The hospital fucked up my caesarian - now they want me to wait five months before fixing things [big bloody rant]

[whomovedmychocolate]

Long story short, repeat caesarian for pre-eclampsia last month.

Escaped five days post partum - still felt really crappy.

Developed peurperal sepsis (deep joy), given massive doses of antibiotics and was finally starting to feel better Sunday but had this massive lump in my abdomen which wasn't getting any better. I looks like a had an adult sized jawbone sticking out my lower belly. Oh and it's really sore too.

So yesterday I went to see GP and he took one look and admitted me to hospital.

Had a scan this morning, the infection is almost gone but I had an incisional hernia, which apparently is where they trap a bit of your major organs in the muscle when they sew the muscles together.

Unfortunately there is a five month wait to get it fixed on the NHS and because the caesarian wasn't done under my private medical insurance, they don't cover the resulting fuck- ups either, so I'm left with waiting nearly half a year to get out of pain or paying around £2K to get it sorted.

Oh and apparently it may turn gangrenous or cause major organ damage if it gets strangulated...at which point the NHS will consider it an emergency and do something.

Otherwise they've given me 28 paracetamol tablets.

[expatinscotland]

OMG, whomoved!

WTF? That is awful!

They only gave you f*cking paracetemol for that?

[morningpaper]

Five months seems like a long time to wait

I would just complain complain complain, make sure they know how much pain you are in - have you seen the consultant?

or collapse and call and ambulance every half an hour or so

[whomovedmychocolate]

To be fair I can't have morphine. But they are still buggers. Oh and I was passing bits of placenta too last week so good job mr surgeon!

[callmeovercautious]

I feel some letter writing to your MP and the Hospital is in order. Perhaps hinting of a lawsuit to cover the cost of going Private?

[morningpaper]

Do they accept responsibility?

Have you made a formal complaint?

[IAteRosemaryConleyForBreakfast]

Sorry you're going through this. Makes me so sad that this is the best we can do in the Western world in 2008

[meep]

make a complaint - the hospital should have a complaints procedure. Word of warning though - it could take longer than 5 months for the complaint to get dealt with.

is there any way you coud speak directly to the surgeon who did the original op - tell him how worried you are about the strangulation thing - and that you have to care for a new baby etc?

[expatinscotland]

I would formally complain about this so-called surgeon.

[Pruners]

Message withdrawn

[Pruners]

Message withdrawn

[Megglevache]

Holy cow that is awful. I would be in A&E every night.

But really what Mp and EPIS said.

Are you in lots of pain?

[whomovedmychocolate]

I saw the consultant surgeon who did the caesarian last night but not the general surgeon who would do the op. I agreed to stay in last night so I could see him and he didn't turn up, so I just had my scans and left.

Ooh but I will be kicking off about this. I'm just so tired though, I've been sick for months.

[expatinscotland]

I'm so pissed off for you, whomoved! We've all been following your story for ages now and it's just another fuck up you didn't need.

[lulumama]

oh for f**'s sake

write to your MP

write to local papers

notify chair of the maternity services liasion committee

demand meeting immediately with head of midwifery and obstetrics

blow the farking whistle!

i am appalled, being admitted to hospital with this sort of complication , and being given paracetomal is a joke.

[meep]

nhs complaints procedure explained here

[IAteRosemaryConleyForBreakfast]

I was referring to the 5 month wait to correct the fuck up Pruners.

Pretty bad, really.

If one of my patients had this problem they would undergo surgery within the week, and they're just animals!
[Disclaimer: this is a fictinional situation - my patients aren't generally left with hernias!]

[noonki]

as above two posts

poor you (()))

[whomovedmychocolate]

I'm pretty lucky in some ways. Because of the scar tissue I can't feel one side of my stomach so I'm probably only getting half the pain I would do.

I'm also quite good with pain, I ignore it till it's really bad then I take a pill. I am thinking of making a complaint but I'm sleeping on it before deciding.

[expatinscotland]

And there are plenty of other non-opiate pain meds that could have made you more comfortable.

Great suggestions, lulu!

[expatinscotland]

And there are plenty of other non-opiate pain meds that could have made you more comfortable.

Great suggestions, lulu!

[whomovedmychocolate]

I'm really hoping IARCFB is a vet!

I might do better with a vet - my vet was nicer to my cat than my obstetrician was to me.

[LaDiDaDi]

An incisional hernia is not where the surgeon traps a bit of major organ in the wound but is where a weakness develops along an incision and an organ, usually bowel but may be associated soft tissue, protrudes through it.
It is a known complication of any abdominal surgery and for what it's worth the larger it is the less likely it is to get stuck and strangulate and cause problems. This is a major reason why heavy lifting etc is advised against after c0section, to prevent this type of thing although it can occur without such lifting.

I would suggest that you make sure that the surgeon who did your c-section is aware of the problem and that you are definitely on the waiting list for a repair, which may well be done by a general surgeon rather than an obs/gynae. The maximum wait allowed for an operation such as this is 18 weeks and I suspect that this is where the 5 months that you were quoted has come from, it may well be sooner.

[LaDiDaDi]

Oh, forgot to add , sorry you have been having such a rough time. I had crap with my section wound too so I do know what a pain it is.

[lulumama]

ask for a copy of your notes NOW before you complain, just in case.

also, make sure that you and DH write down the time frames of what happened, when you were admitted for various things, and any incidents that are noteworthy. note down when you started to feel pains, notice things weren;t healing, when you started passing clots, when you saw GP

so that you have the time frames and details all clear in your mind.

[whomovedmychocolate]

That's helpful ladidadi - thanks! I only know what the obs doc has told me. Round here though you can't go on the waiting list till you've seen the consultant who will do the surgery and there is a five week wait to see him. I then will have to go an see the pre-op care unit before I can go on the waiting list as well (add another two weeks). So even if it's only 18 weeks (which is four and a half months) by the time you add the time to see the consultant, we are way past that.