To think the NHS have made me infertile and to attempt to sue them?

[outpatient]

I had a miscarriage ten weeks no bleeding heartbeat stopped I then had a d and c surgery to remove the foetus and since then my problems started,

All I've had is continual early miscarriages - which I am reading is common issue after d and c surgery due to womb scarring.

I have even had corrective surgery I paid 5k for and the early losses are continuing in the same way, I've had scans that show I had adhesions which happen after d and c, things feel different since the d and c

I'm very angry, what do I do about this I'm almost certain my issues have been caused by the d and c surgery

I almost felt sorry for her before she said this.

After 3 miscarriages, you qualify for a referral to the Recurrent Miscarriage Clinic. They do a thorough blood check and can then prescribe Progesterone/blood-thinning injections to prevent further losses... It is entirely possible you have a condition causing the miscarriages that can be treated. As you haven't yet had a successful pregnancy, it's hard to blame it on the D&C... For example, after my miscarriages I was diagnosed with Chronic Histiocytic Intervilositus but went on to have a baby with treatment. It needs to be investigated.
I'm so sorry for your losses and wish you good luck.

Sounds like you needed the D&C. Do you already have children? How do you know that the medical intervention caused your later miscarriages if you miscarried that pregnancy?

It sounds like you have had a hard time and im sorry, but you don't have a case against the doctors who tried to help you.

I’m very sorry to hear about this, and yes, it’s of course possible that you’ve suffered an side-effect of the treatment.

It’s also possible, though, that you haven’t, and that the first pregnancy was very much against the odds, and also that it’s happened but is an “expected” side effect, and so not negligence.

You are going to need both medical advice, to tell you what has or might have happened, and then legal advice to decide what you should therefore do next.

I would request all your medical records and go to a clinical negligence solicitor for a full review and advice. Its such a life changing issue it needs the proper review and deserves it. mumsnet opinions don't matter. I've seen people make and succeed on cases just due to a gut feeling that they sought advice for.

There is risk with every surgery and rare side effects happen, exactly why they get you to sign a consent form.

YABU

What would have happened if you had not had the D and C?

@boysarethebest they have me the options as I was just short of ten weeks to let it pass naturally - I stupidly chose the d and c

No one gave me any advice they just said do you want surgery or pass naturally

I googled at the time and issues seemed very very slim chance but since digging more in MN seems they are not truthful or accurate about the damage they actually cause

Some really good advice there. D&Cs are relatively routine. I think it would be very difficult for you to prove there was negligence (and there is a lot going on for you medically outside of that). Be very proactive in trying to figure out the cause of your recurrent miscarriages, that will ultimately be a better use of your time.
And I’m so sorry you’ve been through this.

I think this is terrible advice.

I’d focus your energy on finding out if you do have Asherman syndrome and ask for a referral to recurrent miscarriage clinic. I’m sorry to hear about your losses and hope you have good support.

I googled at the time and issues seemed very very slim chance but since digging more in MN seems they are not truthful or accurate about the damage they actually cause

I wouldn't use mumsnet as your source of accurate information around this.

Or Google,

Thank you all and you're right I should just focus on practical solutions. I'm just so worn out angry and tired at the system

That I haven't even been sent blood test results from over a month ago and can't get access to them.

And so I see a private fertility specialist today who has already taken 7k off me and sits there for 20 minutes if shit advice and charges me £150 plus costs of blood tests when I've just had NHS ones but can't get the results

I just never thought I'd be in a position where neither NHS or private is helping me noone seems to give a flying fuck

OP, I’m sorry for your losses.

I am a healthcare lawyer specialising in clinical negligence. Nobody here, including me, can tell you categorically whether you have a good case or not. You will need medical expert evidence which supports the allegations you are making - that the clinicians involved were negligent in their treatment. They will review your notes and records and comment on whether in their opinion the treatment provided fell below an acceptable standard.

An expert liability report can cost hundreds or thousands of pounds. You may be entitled to legal aid which could fund such a report, depending on your financial circumstances.

If you do wish to explore making a claim, you need to consult a specialist solicitor in your jurisdiction who can advise you on the merits of your case and whether funding is available.

All the best.

@Decemberly thank you so much I have no evidence just STrong suspicion which I guess isn't good enough

About consent forms, this isn't quite right. I had a set of procedures in one op and the consent form, electronic, would have been as tall as me if printed out. It was not gone through verbally. The OP makes a very interesting point about whether it should have been. And it had one very important thing missing from it which I remembered to bring up, so that bit was discussed verbally. I also used to do a job where we went through things and discussed verbally as well, rather than just giving them to read.

no-one told me thyroid was linked to fertility and I had history in my notes and no one monitored my thyroid closely and turns out it was severely overactive

That is appalling and maybe this is the medical malpractice issue you ought to be going after? Although you might as well go after both (this and what harm the D&C may have done) if going after one. I think you might have a case, but I am not a lawyer. I'd certainly go through the steps to see whether you do.

To be clear it's the lack of thyroid monitoring that might be the malpractice IMO, I'm saying you might as well get proper advice about both aspects together just in case there is anything to answer on the second point. As per the advice others have given.

Throwing more money at the NHS wouldn’t make a doctor explain anything. It won’t do anything about incompetent people who say they are qualified.

Personally I don’t trust the NHS anymore. I also don’t believe it needs anymore money.
I have seen how much they waste just to save a few pounds.

I have had so many issues over the years that could have been sorted very simply if a GP had listened.

Listening doesn’t cost anything. It isn’t something that needs to be taught. Or money thrown at. You can’t get qualifications in listening. It’s a thing that should happen but doesn’t because the person who should listen is too arrogant to think the person who is speaking knows anything about their own body.

Or when they should explain they don’t think they have to.
It’s almost like any interaction with a patient is beneath them.

I don’t get this mentality.

While I’m unsure, in this case, that OP has a case (would need many more details, legal guidance etc to even have an idea), the NHS isn’t a charity.

The NHS is a service funded via the tax payer. If something has gone wrong (as an example, the wrong limb was amputated or the wrong organ removed), they should absolutely be sued for that. People should not just accept life changing outcomes without any sort of compensation because the NHS is “on its knees”.

The public pay for the service and the service should be fit for purpose. Far too many people don’t complain when the NHS has failed them (myself included). If no one complains, and no one sues when things go massively tits up, nothing changes. However, if there’s a pretty hefty settlement that has to be paid, I’d say it’s much more likely that things would be looked into and put in place to avoid that happening again.

It is vital they are held to account.

If OP has a case and she chooses to sue, she isn’t the reason “old people live in poverty”. Many old people live in poverty due to the Tory government. And, besides, how would the NHS budget have any impact on Doris who can’t afford to put her heating on? They’re entirely different departments. If that NHS money wasn’t spent on a lawsuit, it would be spent on something else. It might be something useful for patients, or it could be for something that is absolutely a waste of money. It certainly wouldn’t be helping Doris, would it?

Your argument is fundamentally flawed.

I think, in the kindest possible way OP, that it's much easier to have a focus to blame and be angry at and that seems to be the case with you. Sometimes though, there's no obvious reason other than just bad luck, and that can be very frustrating and hard to accept.

Lots of good advice from some PP here. Get yourself properly checked out to see what's going on, don't jump to assumptions. The Recurrent Miscarriage Clinic sounds as if it would be a good starting point. If the private doctor isn't helping, stop pissing money away or switch to a different doctor.

Sorry, I know this is really hard but I think your energies would be more productive if they were focused on finding the best solutions rather than apportioning blame, especially as there may be no one at fault here. Hope things work out for you.

@BirdyWoof - I believe that @Newcatbrowntail's comment about old people living in poverty was because the OP was complaining about the government spending money on the triple lock for the state pension rather than sorting out the NHS.

How well is your thyroid being managed? I had multiple early miscarriages because of Hashimotos (which causes hyper and hypo thyroidism, fibroids and crap eggs) and couldn’t get pregnant until I was put on steroids to calm down my immune system first. You need to visit a fertility clinic and pay for all the testing you can get. It was the best 3k I spent & saved me thousands because I had it very early so my protocol could be adjusted quickly

I don’t think Dh would be here if it wasn’t for Google. The NHS don’t seem to have a clue.

Last time I went to see my GP I was told that there wasn’t such a thing as an allergy test.
i even described a patch test to her and she said I was making things up.

Ended up in A&E looking like an acid attack victim with my skin falling off my face as I was allergic to a face cream.
Only got an allergy test through going to A&E

Dd is also allergic to stuff and asked the GP if she could be referred for an allergy test like I had. She got told like me that there wasn’t such a thing as an allergy test and claimed I was making it up

Which would you trust? Google or a Doctor who says that a whole department in a hospital doesn’t exist. I think this doctor thinks it is some sort of collective hysteria with people having hallucinations about patch tests and getting lists of what they are allergic to.

@outpatient there is someone in London who a specialises in diagnosing ashermans - will try and find his name but I came across him on mumsnet. If you google mumsnet ashermans the threads should come up.

Dont waste time or emotion trying to sue the NHS, it won’t work. Endo can cause scarring so it could be that has just gotten worse over time.

sorry for what you’re going through.

I somewhat agree, sadly.

Ever since I had my children (never needed the NHS before, luckily), it has just been utterly depressing.

• First birth with DC1 was traumatising, made much worse by an incredibly unprofessional HCP who bullied me for my 5 day hospital stay. I developed PND afterwards which floored me
• Second birth with DC2 was at the beginning of the pandemic. All plans that were made to help me with my severe anxiety over giving birth due to the first time went out the window. Barely saw anyone, was very much abandoned. Had to get anti depressants prescribed over the phone as no Dr would even see me in person
• DC1 needed a tooth removed due to her chipping it. Been on the waiting list for over a year just to see someone to get her on the operation waiting list. In that time it’s been infected and needed antibiotics about 5 or 6 times. Totally unfair on a toddler
• DC1 awaiting ASD assessment which has been over a year in the waiting now. Speech and Language therapy sessions across a year resulted in about 4 appointments in person (which took a lot of pushing to even get, they wanted it done over Zoom)
• Currently can’t get any of them booked in for their flu jabs as the phone numbers provided don’t work (ie numbers are out of service, there is no “number busy”/any amount of rings, etc). Receptionist refuses to assist in any shape or form as that would involve her walking upstairs. Can’t go in and make appointment in person as they don’t let you in anymore, either.

It’s fucking exhausting. Both of us work, we’re stressed out enough as it is with work as Christmas is our busy period, I’m still dealing with some of the depression/anxiety fallout from the births, I’m obviously worried about DC1 and trying to do my best for her but every single step forward is met with what feels like 30 steps back.

It seems like this across every single department as well. My father has been waiting over a year for his thyroid medication to be reassessed as he was incredibly ill and lost a severe amount of weight in a short period of time. The previous medication wasn’t working well enough, they switched him to a new one which caused all of those severe problems and then have just switched him back and left him in the lurch. My mother waited 5 years for a hip replacement and by the end of the wait there were days where she was in so much pain she had to crawl on the floor to move around the house.

I do feel like more funding would help but I think if services were completely restructured it would help a lot more. It shouldn’t be this difficult to access healthcare. It’s an absolute joke.