Health bosses have been ordered to apologise for failures in the care of a woman whose premature baby died an hour after being born.
The woman's husband complained to Scottish Public Services Ombudsman Jim Martin about the care NHS Grampian gave his wife during the later stages of her pregnancy.
The Ombudsman found the monitoring of her pregancy was "not of a reasonable standard".
The couple's baby was born about three months early at Aberdeen Maternity Hospital in April last year, weighing just 400 grams.
The woman - who is only identified as Mrs C - was admitted to the hospital in March 2012 when she was 25 weeks pregnant as she had a "complex past obstetric history" and had developed gestational diabetes during pregnancy. Her baby was delivered just over two weeks later, with doctors deciding to stop resuscitation efforts about five minutes after the infant was born.
In his report, Mr Martin said the monitoring of Mrs C before the birth was "not of a reasonable standard for properly managing this critical period".
His report said: "Advanced screening techniques were not used at any time to assess whether delivery was an appropriate option or to determine whether prolongation of the pregnancy could be allowed instead."
He said it was a "serious concern" that the "only option seemingly presented to them to secure any chance of Baby C's survival was a caesarean section", adding advisers had described this as "controversial" given the small size of the baby.
His report highlighted a failure of the neonatal team to discuss the situation with the couple prior to surgery.
An NHS Grampian spokesman said: "We are sorry for the distress caused to the family and will be writing to them to apologise."
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