A pregnant woman attending the Midlands Regional Hospital in Portlaoise is calling for an investigation into the maternity services there, after she was mistakenly told her baby had died in her womb weeks earlier.

Aimee Nolan, who lives in Offaly but is originally from Dublin, was referred to the hospital on December 8 by her GP over concerns about the baby's heartbeat.

She is 14 weeks pregnant however when a doctor carried out a scan, she was told that there was no heartbeat and the baby appeared to be only at the ninth week of development, suggesting that the baby had stopped growing weeks before.

She was informed that the baby had died and was asked to return to the hospital the following week to discuss her options. No second opinion was sought despite this being stated in the hospital's protocols.

After requesting an earlier appointment, Ms Nolan and her husband returned to the hospital two days after the original scan.

At this time, a second scan was carried out which revealed that the baby was alive and was measuring the correct size.

The HSE has said that it cannot comment on individual cases, however it added that the case is under review.