An anaesthetist has admitted to being four times over the drink-drive alcohol limit when she botched a caesarean that caused the death of a British mother, but pleaded: ‘I don’t deserve to go to prison’ on Thursday.
Helga Wauters, a 51-year-old long term alcoholic who had been drinking vodka and wine before the procedure, forced a breathing tube into 28-year-old Xynthia Hawke’s oesophagus instead of her windpipe, causing her to go into cardiac arrest.
The horrifying mistake at a French hospital in September 2014 left Hawke brain dead and in a coma, and she died four days later, despite her son, Isaac, being born safe and well.
Wauters, a Belgian national who is on trial for manslaughter, on Thursday told a court in Pau, South West France, that she should be spared jail.
Expat Xynthia Hawke, 28, from Somerset, (pictured, left, in an undated social media photo); and Helga Wauters, 53, (right, at the court in Pau on Thursday)
‘These last six years have been hell,’ said Wauters. ‘I carry the death of Xynthia Hawke with me every minute. I accept my responsibility, but I don’t deserve to go to prison.’
In a statement, Wauters added: ‘My job as a doctor makes me responsible for the lives of my patients. I became a doctor to save lives. I could never imagine one day I could have done bad to anyone.
‘I don’t want to make myself the victim, but I was overwhelmed by this addiction that I still cannot control despite all my efforts.’
‘I recognise now that my addiction was incompatible with my job,’ Wauters told the court, adding that ‘I will regret this death my entire life.’
The late Xynthia Hawke’s partner and father of their child, Yannick Balthazar, sits in the courtroom in Pau on October 8
Expat Xynthia Hawke, 28, from Somerset, died shortly after giving birth to son Isaac in September 2014. Her partner Yannick Balthazar (pictured with Hawke) is bringing him up
Hawke’s partner, Frenchman Yannick Balthazar, was among family members in court to hear the testimony.
He is now raising Isaac, who was born at the Orthez maternity hospital, near Pau, where Wauters worked as an anaesthetist, despite her addiction to vodka and wine.
Also observing proceedings was Hawke’s father, Fraser Hawke, who said: ‘We will be strong,’ as he entered the court along with his wife, Clare Hawke, and Iris Hawke, his other daughter.
Wauters admitted carrying a bottle of vodka mixed with water in her pocket at all times, while searches of her home by police found numerous empty bottles of the alcohol.
During Hawke’s caesarean, Wauters administered the first dose of anaesthetic and then left before birth complications appeared which then required an emergency C-section.
Helga Wauters, 53, (sitting in the courtroom in Pau today) pushed a tube down Hawke’s oesophagus instead of her windpipe and failed to realise the error despite the mother vomiting and crying in agony
When Wauters returned to theatre, colleagues said her breath smelled heavily of alcohol, because she had been drinking vodka and ‘a glass of rosé wine’ with friends during her break.
She also claimed to have been ’70 percent in control of my faculties,’ and ‘not drunk,’ the court heard.
Hawke went into cardiac arrest after Helga Wauters, 53, pushed a tube down her oesophagus instead of her windpipe and failed to realise the error despite the mother vomiting and crying in agony.
Wauters said the rest of the operating team had also made mistakes, and that the respirator they had been using was faulty.
After being arrested and taken into custody by police on the day of Hawke’s operation, the alcohol content in Wauters’s blood was found to be 2.38 grams per litre.
This corresponds to almost 10 glasses of wine, and is more than four times the permitted level when driving in France.
Xynthia Hawke’s sister Iris, 36, (right), mother Clare and father Fraser arrive at the courthouse in Pau on Thursday
The late Xynthia Hawke’s partner Yannick Balthazar, sister Iris , mother Clare and father Fraser sitting the courtroom in Pau before the trial on Thursday
Prosecutors in France allege that Wauters was sacked by a Belgian hospital in 2013 over an error made during a caesarean because of drinking, The Telegraph reported.
She was sacked by another hospital a year later when colleagues claimed they could smell alcohol on her while an epidural was administered.
In July 2015, 10 months after Hawke’s death, Wauters was stopped for drink-driving. She told officers that she often drank several glasses of spirits in a day.
The maternity clinic in Orthez, and the lead gynaecologist in the Hawkes case were initially charged over her death, but those cases have since been dropped.
Wauters faces a maximum of three years imprisonment if convicted of manslaughter and a fine equivalent to almost £70,000.
Xynthia Hawke, who worked as a recruiter for businesses looking for multi-lingual employees, updated friends on her pregnancy using social media
Hawke grew up in North Petherton, Somerset, where she went to Haygrove comprehensive school.
She holidayed in France with family as a child, before moving to Paris to study at the University of London Institute.
Hawke, who worked as a recruiter for businesses looking for multilingual employees, had updated friends on her pregnancy using social media.
Philippe Courtois, lawyer for the Hawke family, said: ‘It’s going to be hard for them … They are going to hear things that they didn’t know, or preferred not to know, about what emerged during the investigation.’
A verdict in the two-day case will be handed down on Friday.
Holiday photos show Hawke beaming on her travels through Europe