Baby Olivia's parents to pursue legal claim after inquest leaves questions unanswered

The family of baby Olivia Trupiano, who died in September 2024, say they will keep pursuing a civil claim after a four-day inquest in October ended with a narrative conclusion and questions they say remain unanswered.

Tim

Published 23:14, Friday, 23 October 20262 min read

A wide green park with autumn leaves on the grass, trees on either side, small groups of people in the distance and houses on a hillside under a cloudy sky — Preston Park, Brighton (file photo, Photo: Hassocks5489, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons)

The parents of baby Olivia Trupiano say they will keep pursuing a civil legal claim after an inquest into her death left them with unanswered questions. Olivia died on 19 September 2024, days after her birth. Her family’s solicitors, Slater and Gordon, announced the claim on 19 October 2026 in a statement on their website.

Inquest. Four days, from 5 to 9 October 2026, at the West Sussex, Brighton and Hove Coroner Service.

Conclusion. A narrative conclusion. According to the family’s solicitors, the coroner found Olivia died of natural causes and identified opportunities for improvement in communication within her care before the birth.

Next step. Her parents are pursuing a civil legal claim against those involved in her care, represented by Slater and Gordon. The statement does not name the defendants.

What happened

The solicitors say Olivia died at the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton from hypoxic-ischaemic encephalopathy, a brain injury caused by a lack of blood flow and oxygen. They say this resulted from her mother suffering a two-stage spontaneous rupture of her splenic artery before Olivia was born at 34 weeks at the Princess Royal Hospital in Haywards Heath. We have not seen the coroner’s written record, so this account is the family’s solicitors’ summary of the findings.

What the family says

Olivia’s mother said nothing will change the fact that the family lost their much-loved daughter, and that the family want her remembered for who she was, a cherished daughter and sister to her older siblings. She said Olivia brought immense love and joy in the few days they had with her.

She said the family had always wanted answers about whether anything could have been done differently and whether there were lessons to learn. They welcomed the chance to hear the evidence, she said, but felt important questions remain unanswered, and the end of the inquest is not the end of the process. She said they hope that pursuing the claim and raising awareness of pregnancy-related emergencies such as splenic artery rupture will help prevent other families going through the same heartbreak.

The family’s solicitor, Ayesha Hussain, said the evidence heard during the inquest had revealed information that would assist the legal claim, and that the family deserve to have their concerns properly examined.

What we could not confirm

We have not found a published statement from University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust, which runs both hospitals, on the inquest conclusion or the legal claim. The coroner’s written conclusion was not available when we checked, so we are not reporting the evidence given by individual witnesses.

Support

Anyone affected by the death of a baby can contact the charity Sands, which supports people affected by stillbirth and neonatal death, on its free helpline 0808 164 3332 or through its support page.

What happens next

The civil claim is at an early stage and no court dates have been announced. We will update this report if the trust responds or more details are published.