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...

This was 4 years ago.

Ok well you have 3 years to bring a claim before the courts after that it is time barred.

You are too late op.

I still dont see anything to sue for.

That doesn’t sound different to many other Labour stories

Labial tears happen.... lopsided ness happens. Most of us are never the same again down there!

You don’t have grounds to sue

I don't think you have any grounds to sue them and much of what you want to complain about (not being hooked up to monitors, not being given pain relief etc) is fairly normal for a birth anyway. You wouldn't normally get hooked up unless you're high risk and many women give birth without pain relief so I wouldn't say it is grounds for complaint.
Obviously being left alone and ignored isn't acceptable but a letter detailing your experience would probably suffice

After such a long time I doubt anyone would even remember if you made a complaint.

See your GP to See about counselling and correction for your injury.

You have your child, how they got there isn’t important Are you fucking kidding me?! I had a massively traumatic birth which ended in a EMCS (with shit postnatal care) and my son ended up staying in hospital for a week (jaundice which they bloody missed for 34 hours!!) and we were both treat like utter shite but at least he's alive. Ffs was 2015 not 1950.
Ask for a debrief OP. Make sure you write a list of all the questions you have. Ask why things happened and how they plan to make sure this doesn't happen in future. Ask to see your medical notes.
Good luck (and congratulations)

Crash section*

Suing - no. But I would recommend you contact the hospital where you gave birth, perhaps via PALS, to ask for a birth debrief/birth reflections appointment. You may also wish to complain about aspects of your care. The thing that came across for me was that you didn't feel listened to and safe. While the midwives couldn't predict how quickly things might happen for you, they could and should have listened to what you were saying, and that's the kind of thing that is easy to feed back to staff in terms of something that could be done better.

You need to think what you want out of it. I experienced poor care (not dangerous care but I suspect I might have avoided a section if things had been done differently). It never crossed my mind to sue as it wasn't like the experience affected me financially. But I did want to complain about the care I received at the hands of one midwife to ensure that other women didn't experience the same thing.

I found the appointment really helpful and quite cathartic as they acknowledged that things didn't happen as they should have done. But I think it helped that we were very clear about what the issues were and also praised staff who had been helpful.

The NHS don't have any money OP.

As your baby is presumably healthy (I am only assuming this as you didn't mention it) and you didn't suffer any long-term serious physical damage I predict you would get nowhere by suing the NHS. This isn't America, where a jury can award you millions for "trauma and suffering". In the UK you have to prove that (a) they did not follow procedure; and (b) that their failure to follow procedure caused you some kind of lasting monetary damage.

As a split labia is quite a common (and considered minor) injury in childbirth you will find it difficult to prove that your treatment caused this, and even if you can, I wouldn't expect a large payout.

You can always contact a personal injury lawyer for an opinion (there are many that specialise in medical negligence) but I predict they will tell you the exact same thing, and even if they do agree to take the case, just the initial investigation fees will likely run to thousands of pounds that you will be personally liable for if you don't have insurance to cover them.

That's leaving aside the whole moral issue of suing the NHS…

I actually despair of people saying well the baby's here now so your experience doesn't matter. It DOES fucking matter! Of course it goes without saying that the end result that everyone wants is a healthy baby but that does not mean we can totally disregard the mother and her feelings and her experience. We are making birth a traumatic event where it really shouldn't be! It is so important that a woman is listened to and has a choice in her labour. No bloody wonder PND is on the up.

OP you can contact your midwifery unit and ask to speak to the Supervisor if Midwives. Tell her you are not happy with your experience and ask her who you can speak to. There is often a consultant midwife who deals with debrief and can help with arranging a plan for if you are in labour again.

Please feel free to PM me, I have some experience in this area and happy to help.

I had a very similar experience with one of mine. Told I could go home, no pain relief, I was not happy so told to wait while shifts changed and new midwife would assess, two contractions later I was pushing and DS was halfway out before midwife came to room. I tore badly

Despite all that, my own feeling is that suing just causes the NHS to spend more on lawyers and possibly compensation leaving less for other women. I would write and complain if you feel this should be acknowledged but, personally, would find it hard to justify suing

Was your baby back to back. What you describe is similar to what happened to me. I got told to go home for the third time and take some paracetamol. This is the part no one warns you about. Basically you are in labour but nothings happening up front as the baby is the wrong way round so you don't dilate or dilate a bit then go back.

I went into labour at midnight then was turned away 3 times up until 8.20am when the midwives changed shifts. The new one examined me and said oh my your back to back, partner said how long till the baby comes she said it's coming now. So I done most of the labour with no pain relief in the house.

After researching it it is pretty common for woman with back to back babies to be sent home. I know another one using the same hospital who was sent home numerous time's and delivered the baby herself in her bath. Also seen comments on here from people who have been sent home. Midwife one didn't have a clue, midwife 2 was brilliant. Midwife one came and sat on my bed the next night at 2am apologising, maybe she thought I would company or felt guilty as I was crying my eyes out begging for help and pain relief.

Dc3 was back to back and they tried the same thing again no she's not go home but I refused and deliver not long after but was able to have pethidine.

I don’t think after 4 years have passed you’d have grounds to sue. But you’d have to ask a solicitor who specialises in these matters. It does sound traumatic and I can hear that you are very fearful but I don’t think pursuing a long and costly claim will take those feelings away. What would you want to sue for?

I find this concept of the NHS being exempt for liability for damages caused by its actions odd.

If it is negligent then why should the person who has suffered because of that negligence not be compensated - as is the case for all other organisations? Just because it is funded by the taxpayer and state run, people should absorb damages done by it themselves? Why?

Its disingenuous to combine this with the argument about underfunding of the NHS. If its underfunded that doesn't mean that someone who's suffered because of negligence should take it on the chin. It means it should be better funded and better managed. Which ultimately means higher taxes.

A legal view would be needed on whether there is a case of medical negligence here - but it certainly sounds like the NHS has been negligent and she has suffered damage because of that (trauma and fear of birth and a lifelong problem with her bits which whilst not life threatening is not insignificant). Of course she should be compensated if some one fucked up. Why should the NHS be exempt from that responsibility.

• complain

I think it would be a bit silly to sue the nhs, when it was your baby who tore your labia..

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 missed that bit!

What makes you think private care is vastly superior?

I can tell you some horror stories if you like about appalling substandard private care.

But until the OP has consulted a legal expert about what claim if any can be made, we’re just speculating. Pursuing a claim is not something to be done lightly given the potential financial/emotional cost.

A legal view would be needed on whether there is a case of medical negligence here - but it certainly sounds like the NHS has been negligent

I am a clinical negligence lawyer.

I dont see negligence at all.

And she is also out of time. You have 3 years to bring a claim and it has been 4 years.

There is no basis to sue at all.

Surely a debrief and therapy would be more useful than suing? Why is suing your first thought - what would that achieve?

Thanks everyone, I know it seems it rationale to talk about suing. But well, what do you do when you are traumatised by an experiment that could of been avoided?

I did have 6 months off work unpaid when I went back after maternity for pnd, which I can contribute to my experiences giving birth.

The injury I have doesn't stop me earning, but does stop me doing certain things, and causes me pain when it gets irritated.

I don't know what I think would happen if I sued? I don't know what would happen if I made a complaint either?

Neither of them would make a real difference would it? The former would just cost the NHS money. And that's about it.

I think for me I something, I do t know what that is, before I can move on.

I am totally greatful to have have had a healthy baby. But I can't be thankful.

You would be better off planning a c-section rather than suing the NHS.

That would solve your fears, suing wouldn't.

Whilst your birth does sound like it was traumatic for you, there's nothing really bad in there. Less than ideal treatment fromthe initial midwife but no monitoring is not at all like "giving birth in the woods". Not everyone has it.

Is it too late for someone to "debrief" you where they talk through your notes? Or have you considered talking it through with a counsellor?

I dont think suing would solve your problem at all.

why should the person who has suffered because of that negligence not be compensated

She suffered a torn labia. (And not necessarily due to their negligence) to put that right would involve surgery, and guess who can do that? It’s the NHS, so they would be the ones absorbing the cost of fixing “their” mistake.

Definitely file a complaint if it's not too late. I don't see that you've got a case for suing them but I wish you did, if you do sue them I wish you good luck.