A MOTHER driven to despair as her baby daughter lay dying in hospital bribed a nurse with a £100 ($F288) gift voucher in the hope of improving her care.
Hayley Fullerton died of heart failure within a month of her first birthday after doctors ignored Paula Stevenson's pleas to transfer the little girl to an intensive care unit.
In the weeks leading up to Hayley's death, Miss Stevenson became so concerned about the "brutal" care her daughter was receiving that she tried to bribe one nurse to stop her daughter being "overlooked and neglected".
Yesterday, the 40-year-old told an inquest: "I was out of my mind with worry and was so upset. The doctors were arrogant and unprofessional.
"I tried to express my concern to the nurses, I even bought a £100 gift voucher in an attempt to bribe one of them.
"I hoped the other nurses would hear about it and look after Hayley in the hope they would get one too. But nothing worked."
Hayley had been diagnosed with a hole in the heart before she was born, and was admitted to Birmingham Children's Hospital for corrective surgery when she was ten months old.
Miss Stevenson said that while the operation was a success, complications arose during Hayley's recovery after doctors inserted the wrong size tube into her lung, causing it to collapse.
The inquest heard Hayley's parents became increasingly concerned that their only child was struggling to breathe and looked "puffy" - but were repeatedly told by medics that there was nothing to worry about.