A FATHER-of-four whose wife and unborn baby died is suing ambulance chiefs for around £500,000 damages.

Ahmed Shah Moied, from Southampton, claims his wife, Addeba, and daughter, Fatima, would still be with him if paramedics had rolled his wife onto her side into the recovery position after she collapsed.

The businessman told the Daily Echo his life has been shattered.

“I do not want to see any other person’s life ruined in this way. I am fighting so others are never in this situation,” he said.

Tragedy struck at the family home in Bassett, Southampton, in November 2006.

Addeba, who was 38 weeks pregnant and suffering hypertension, fell ill. As her desperate husband called for medical help, the 41-year-old fell down the stairs.

Paramedics arrived to find her unconscious on the floor, the High Court heard.

She was kept on her back for about five minutes until a second ambulance arrived when she went into cardiac arrest.

She finally got to Southampton General Hospital where staff delivered the couple’s baby through Caesarian section.

However, just days later, Ahmed was given devastating news by doctors that both mother and baby had suffered brain damage due to lack of oxygen and life support was withdrawn.

He said: “It shattered me. It was awful news. I was broken.”

Ahmed spoke with a medic at the hospital who expressed concerns that appropriate treatment was not given to his wife by paramedics on the scene. He claims the medic said she should have been brought to hospital sooner.

Ahmed’s barrister Julian Matthews outlined the case against South Central Ambulance Service NHS Trust in London’s High Court. He insisted Ahmed’s wife and daughter could have survived if she had been rolled onto her side by the first ambulance crew.

Experts for the ambulance service maintain the crew acted correctly in keeping her on her back and attempting to clear her airway with a suction pump.

In a report prepared as part of their case, a specialist states: “In view of the severity of her deterioration, compounded by the difficulties in securing an adequate airway and breathing, I do not believe on the balance of probabilities Mrs Moied and her baby would have survived anyway.”

A spokeswoman for South Central Ambulance Service NHS Trust said it would be “inappropriate” to comment at this time.

Judge John Leighton Williams QC, who will rule on whether or not the ambulance service is liable for the two deaths, is expected to give his judgement next week.