Merope Mills on her daughter Martha, Actor Sheila Atim on Woman King, Women in the armed forces, Truss impersonators

Woman's Hour

BBC

Society & Culture, Health & Fitness, Personal Journals

4.2 • 2.9K Ratings

🗓️ 8 October 2022

⏱️ 56 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Merope Mills’ 13-year-old daughter Martha died in hospital in August 2021. An inquest concluded that her death had been preventable, and the hospital has apologised. Merope, who is Editor of the Guardian’s Saturday magazine, says her daughter would be alive today if doctors had not kept information from them about her condition, because as her parents they would have demanded a second opinion. The award-winng British-Ugandan actor Sheila Atim on her new film ‘The Woman King’. She plays the warrior Amenza, part of the Agojie, an all-female army who battle fearlessly against marauding European slavers to protect their empire in 19th century Dahomay, in West Africa. A year on from the Atherton Review which found women in the armed forces were being let down with a majority reporting they had suffered bullying harassment or discrimination we hear from Emma Norton from the Centre for Military Justice about what progress has been made. As the Prime Minister delivered her first speech at the Tory party confernece, the impressionists have been busy at work. Politicians have always been their lifeblood especially our Prime Ministers. Jess Robinson who does many of the famous female voices for Spitting Image and Jan Ravens from Radio 4's Dead Ringers discuss. . Presenter: Anita Rani Producer: Dianne McGregor

Transcript

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0:00.0	BBC Sounds Music Radio Podcasts
0:30.0	It's delivered her first speech as Prime Minister to the Conservative Party conference.
0:34.5	We hear from the impressionists, Jess Robinson and Jan Ravens,
0:38.2	on capturing our new PM's voice.
0:41.6	But first, Marope Mills is 13-year-old daughter Martha,
0:45.6	died in hospital in August 2021. She'd sustained a rare pancreatic trauma after falling off her
0:52.6	bike on a family holiday and spent weeks being treated in a specialist unit in London,
0:57.7	where she developed sepsis. As she deteriorated, Marope and her husband were very concerned
1:04.1	by some of the decisions about her care, but were told to trust the doctors.
1:09.6	Martha was not referred to critical care until it was too late to save her.
1:15.5	This wasn't a question of an overstretched NHS. The ward she was on was well-funded,
1:21.0	and there was a bed available in ICU. Marope, who is editor of the Guardian Sastay magazine,
1:27.5	says her daughter would be alive today if doctors had not kept information from them about her
1:32.8	condition, because they would have demanded a second opinion. An inquest earlier this year concluded
1:39.3	that Martha's death had been preventable, and King's College Hospital has apologised,
1:44.4	and pledged to learn lessons from their mistakes. When Emma spoke to Marope for her
1:49.7	only broadcast interview, she asked her what happened after Martha came off her bike on that
1:54.8	summer holiday in Wales last year. We first thought she was just winded. She kept saying,
2:00.7	you know, she brave little girl, she kept saying, now I'll be fine, I'll be able to get back on my
2:03.9	bike, and she was kind of holding her stomach, and in the end we realised she wasn't going to be fine.
2:09.6	So I took her first to the minor injuries unit at the local hospital and a nurse saw us.
2:17.2	She lifted up her t-shirt, and you know, there was no blood, there was no cut, there was just this
	...

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