To sue the NHS over my birthing experience

[boomitscountginula]

Now before I get flamed to death. I do appreciate my birth story isn't as bad as some but, I now refuse to have another baby unless I can get assurances that this won't happen again, and the only way I can do so is to go private, I think.? It was traumatic to me.

I had a quite easy birth, in terms of how long it took "officially" but I wasn't listened to and have a couple of long lasting injuries I think could of been prevented if they believed I was in labour to begin with.

My birth story: I woke up the day after my due day and had lost my plug over night. Went for a stretch and sweep at lunch, (planned as it was my first) with my midwife said I was 3cm already.

Fabulous, no pain at the minute, now 3cm easy birth.. so I thought.

Went home had a nap, woke up with contractions near tea time. By 9pm they where regularly 6 minutes apart so rang the maternity ward, had a phone assessment and went in.

Got into maternity triage, in absolute agony, had a physical exam and the triage said:

"Your only 3 cm, you need to come home and come back."

I said well as you can see, I am contacting every 6 minutes and less now, the pain is overwhelming and I feel like I need to push.

She tutted and said in all her experience she had never been wrong and I had hours to go, so needed to go home.

I was in bits at this news and crumbled. I never wanted an epidural and chose pethidine (sic) and gas and air. So agreed I would go home but I needed some kind of pain killer, that I could have with my chosen birth plan. I really put my foot down and said I will go home but only if I can get a pain killer stronger that the 2 paracetamol I had taken already.

She said she would find a doctor, but never came back.

Meanwhile I then go into the advanced stages of Labour. Bare in mind I had two paracetamol and my waters haven't broken. It's like trying to birth a gym ball.

I am literally screaming in pain in a side room in maternity triage, pushing and effectively giving birth myself. My partner and my mum (both birth partners) took it in turns to find anyone. But no one came for 45 minutes.

After 45 minutes a junior midwife came in and said "oh my god your in labour".

Me and her literally ran to the deliver ward, where I was given gas and air.

I took a massive gulp of it, and was told off, because I should only take it when I am in pain and contracting..... never mind the two hours I have just been in hospital alone labouring, without a monitor on my baby or any pain relief.

I am still not hooked up to monitor, the only medical intervention is gas and air right now. My waters still haven't broken, 4 minutes later I was given the pethidine. 2 minutes after that I crown, baby in sack. Midwife broke the waters and my son was born. My official record shows that I was in labour for 9 minutes.

I had pain relief 4 minutes into my 9 minute birth and at no point was I on any kind of contraction monitoring machine. Nothing monitoring baby's heartbeat etc etc. I might as well have birthed in the woods.

I also split my right labia in two during the birth. The midwife didn't want to stitch it because it wasn't that bad.. yet I couldn't pee, unless in the bath for 3 weeks, and now that side is an inch longer than the other. Causing me, well you can imagine.

Start to finish I was treated like dirt, I was left labouring in a room alone, I was belittled and injured without proper treatment. And now I am afraid to be pregnant again.

I love the NHS, but they have let me down, massively. I am permanently injured (labia) and mentally scarred. But hate the idea of sueing the NHS on a theoretical level...

@viva because so many women have bad painful scars after being stitched up? Interesting how women get cosmetic operations on their genitals - labiaplasty, vaginoplasty and are RARELY left with painful scars because those are done by surgeons.
Clearly - going by people's real lived experiences midwives are generally not to be trusted unless supervised by someone with more empathy and training. Sadly on the nhs they are left unchecked and seem to be on a little power trip leaving women traumatised. I wouldn't let one of you near me with any of your forceps or stitches. You're not qualified to do stitching of an area so delicate in my opinion, too many shit jobs out there after a midwife thinks she is handy with sutures.

I had a wonderful midwife who ran out to the ambulance I was in and she was not thick as mince she was very understanding and caring. I know not everyone has this experience but I did and those of us who had great treatment should speak up too.

I’m not a midwife but Thetooth you’re spouting some shite and it’s a good job it’s not up to you what a midwives role entails, as a med student I’ve seen midwives help doctors out numerous times.

You’re saying people aren’t qualified when they are it’s not a matter of opinion it’s a matter of fact.

I’ve had a baby yes and I used the NHS.

@dipping i don't think they are qualified enough no. I think they are useful to save money and provide a front for care but actually having seen the requirements in academic terms to qualify as a midwife in the UK yes I think some of them are too stupid to be managing some of what they do.

ALso @dipping - if you want to you can read the thread and see where people have been left with permanent injuries, braindead / actually dead babies / psychological trauma after having a midwife in the UK oversee their care. The evidence speaks for itself.

People, please don't rise to toothy's goading. She's been like this on other threads and possibly socking too and is only seeking a reaction. Most of us have just ignored. DONT FEED!!!

Well toothy I think you cannot make blanket statements about competency and I also think insults and name calling do not help anybody.
If you have a grievance use the complaints procedure but please do not do every professional a disservice because there are brilliant midwives and some not so good .

They're not used to save money, I earn more than most of the doctors on the ward (obv not the consultants). It would be cheaper to have 8x junior doctors each shift.

I'm sorry you had such a bad time @thetoothyteeth, they shouldn't have done that. I've seen some poor midwives over the years and also poor doctors. Thankfully the majority of both professions are good.

Midwifery training has upped its game in recent years. It's now degree only training. My local uni the entry requirements are AAB at a level so I doubt people who are as thick as mince still get onto a course.

Ah ok Pizza never came across them before, explains a lot.

I can make statements like that, i just did and i will continue to do so. It's what i think. Don't like it? Tough!

Oh and @pizza im not seeking a reaction, i use mn when jm working from home and bored on my break. Im trying to warn other women - but you know what, people who attack me for that, i wouldn't pity you if you had a nasty midwife. Maybe that's the only way you will understand.

@secret that's sickening. Evil bitches. They remind me of those weird nuns from years ago. I don't think i could have physically restrained myself in these types of situations - probably best for my sanity and my freedom that i avoided them.

I have said on here before that the possibility of this bizarre, outrageous treatment is part of the reason why I don’t have children. I seriously would not be held responsible for my actions.

I still think about the cunts who nearly killed my sister in law and 2 of my best friends, and their babies.

It's now degree only training. My local uni the entry requirements are AAB at a level so I doubt people who are as thick as mince still get onto a course.

There are a lot of ways to be as thick as mince. Unfortunately the world is stuffed with highly qualified idiots.

I have to say that in 3 births under the NHS I have come away from each one in awe of what we have available to us. It hasn't been perfect by any means, but pretty fucking good. All the midwives and others have done their best under some tough circs, and in defence of their suturing skills the sutures I had put in a few weeks ago by a midwife have healed way better and more quickly than those put in by a surgeon after #1. If we're talking anecdata that is.

I've reported the obvious

You are considering suing over this? I tend not be overly critical, but it doesn't sound dissimilar to the labour I had with DD.

I wouldn't consider it to be terrible myself, I certainly wouldn't consider suing.

I would however go private or pay for a doula if I felt that the NHS couldn't give me the care I expected or felt was needed.

I've only skimmed TFT, so apologies if this has already been brought up, but almost half of the NHS budget (about £60billion) is spent on settling litigation suits. Many of those are no doubt legitimate and I'm not saying they shouldn't be compensated where negligence has occurred. But imagine how much better the service could be if even £10billion of that litigation money was spent on staffing, training, beds, and equipment. If you want to make a difference to NHS practice, suing them isn't the way to do it.

Sorry, but I have had 3 births, and 3 out of 3 the care, or lack of care, from midwives is absolutely shocking.

I am SO glad I am done. I feel sorry for anyone having a baby now.

I don’t give a shiny shit how many births a midwife has seen. Listen to the woman actually having the baby!!

Too much power. Too much vulnerability for the woman giving birth.

Too many stories of botched forceps deliveries, left alone for hours, botched stitches, yanking out placentas causing bleeding, no empathy, ignoring pleas for pain, ignoring instincts...none of this should happen.

It happens way more than it should.

But for so long you feel you can’t ever question the ‘caring’ profession. Not the wonderful midwives. Well, sorry, but the non wonderful ones need to be called out. They are abusing their position.

If £60 billion is spent in negligence claims (is it really?) what that means is that the NHS is being negligent at unacceptable levels surely??

Sure a percentage of these would be questionable, but the majority wouldn’t be.

Why on earth can a government agency not be accountable for negligence??

The funding gap needs to be overcome basically through higher taxes and greater efficiency.

Not by leaving people damaged by negligence being uncompensated.

It sets money aside for litigation because it knows it cocks up. To be fair (and I have given up being fair about the NHS), most businesses do that to some extent. A high risk due to patient interaction plus a high risk due to shit ness.

I also think some of it is about the overfamiliarity. It's so much easier to be a bit of a shit to Helen or Claire, or love, dear, sweetie, than it is to Mrs Raindrops. As they say familiarity breeds contempt. That's why when DS1 was born nearly 23 years ago I stopped it. It has been questioned occasionally and I have just nicely asked them to remind me of the name of the consultant. It has always been: Mr A, Miss B or Mrs C. And I just say well there you go then, It's an equality issue and I'm very happy to call you nurse x, y or z but it's all first names or It's all titles.

And I certainly don't need to be overfamiliar with a stranger who may stick their hand up my fanny or need to examine my breasts. My DH can use endearments when that happens, NOT Hcps.