Can I get compensation? Assaulted at hospital

[Plzstopthisstupidity]

Good evening Mumsnet

My sister recently announced she is pregnant and it brought back a memory of something I had buried.

5 years ago, I had a C-section. The day after in hospital, when I was recovering, a nurse grabbed me by the neck in a hallway of patients, staff and visitors and threatened me. She verbally and physically assaulted me.

I can’t discuss the reasons behind it but long story short was she verbally abused me in private (my room) and then when she heard me trying to complain, she grabbed me.

The manager of the maternity ward saw this and spoke to me. She apologised and comforted me. I was humiliated, sobbing and traumatised at the time.

I moved on. I still think about it… more so recently.

I was given the nurse’s name and found out that she is still working in the hospital (this was a year ago not sure if she is still there now).

I am starting to feel immensely angry about what happened. Part of me wants to take legal action.

Mumsnet: is there anything I can do? Is it worth even doing anything as it’s been so long since it happened?

just looking for ideas/advice - thank you!!

By the way I think anyone saying it's "grabby" to consider compensation unless you experience literal financial loss are very out of order. There are losses in life that cannot themselves be measured in ££ but which can cost money to fix. And what about all the cases of state abuse around things like forced sterilisation, where compensation is paid out to victims? It's the only way we have to make things right; would would you say those women don't deserve the money??! Compensation could also, in some circumstances, be paid to cover eg the costs of counselling and recovery from an incident where there isn't financial loss per se.

I just think too much time has elapsed in this case for a legal battle to be possible. I'd also advise against legal action unless absolutely necessary for the continuation of normal life (if you have sustained a life changing injury, or your professional reputation has been dramatically damaged etc etc), because it is tremendously expensive and so stressful it often destroys people's mental health in its own right.

OP, I didn't say I didn't believe you.

I just answered the question in your thread title.

There are easier ways to get the money you lack.

I'm surprised she wasn't instantly suspended pending investigation. Was she a qualified nurse or a health care.
Use the link others have posted to the NMC website and enter her name see if she is still on the register. But I fear it may be too long since it happened for any claims and it would be very difficult to prove after all this time.

Unfortunately, you've left it too late. It does sound really weird, surly if this person just flipped at you for no reason she wouldn't last in a hospital setting. It's too long for compensation and even if you were to complain now peoples memories change and people forget stuff. You'll have no one to back you up.

You can on the other hand ask the hospital to explain what happened at your birth though. Maybe it will help a bit.

I have to admit I am quite surprised by people who think this didn’t happen or that I hallucinated. I am actually shaking a bit.

I was not on intense medication.

This happened and I remember it clearly. I have the woman’s name, otherwise maybe I would have moved on by now.

@Soontobe60 Did I say I was in a private room? Apologies but no, I was in a ward and there was a curtain split. Me and 1 other woman only.

Sorry if my messages sound rough, I am
typing on a phone and not used to such long texts in one go.

i don’t know if I said “surgical tights” - I will go back and check that now. They were not surgical tights, they were those stocking type things you get after giving birth. Is it something to do with blood pressure? I am unsure of their exact purpose but yes, they gave me tights and they felt like stockings.

I am sorry you're struggling. I think the first port of call with this would be the PALS at the hospital in question, to go over your birth notes if this is still available as a service, and to request any additional notes from that visit.

Then take it from there, depending on what you find out. I think it would be a good idea to be clear about what you are looking for, compensation is usually related to a loss of some kind, and it's not clear that there has been a financial loss, but maybe think about what you would like from the process before you start.

OP. As the ward manager witnessed this and spoke to you, they will have submitted an incident report on this (often called Datix). So raise the issue with PALS and they can help find out what was reported at the time and what was done about it (was the nurse disciplined for example at the time). This may help to get closure for you. You can also raise with the professional bodies as other PP have suggested.

However I don't think compensation will be due. There's no clincial negligence here as it was a physical assault and rudness and you don't get much compensation for injuries in an assault case. So I'm afraid there won't be much mileage in going down that road.

I don't have any advice but I wanted to offer my support. It must have been a horrendous thing to have experienced after having a c-section. I don't understand why so many think this is made up. All sorts goes on in hospitals. I recently had a c-section and though nothing as awful happened to me, the aftercare and attitude of some nurses was far from ideal.

So what? You can feel as money grabbing as you wish when an employee who has duty of care assault you and grab you by the neck.

The mental health repercussion on the victim are huge. She can use compensation to pay for counselling sessions.

@Erby I don’t think I care if you in particular believe me or not because you sound quite unkind and I try to avoid people like that. Telling me to try Vinted when I am sharing a personal experience of assault in a place where we seek care was truly strange and shocking. Maybe you would have responded differently if it was your own child sharing their assault.

OP might have meant underwear not tights.
I have had 6 c sections, yes really, but never had to wear tights, knee heigh surgical compression stockings, but never tights.

Gosh firstly I’m sorry this happened to you, you were at your most vulnerable and secondly I’m sorry for the awful replies. It’s no wonder you put this awful incident to the back of your mind as you were recovering from major surgery and caring for a baby and everything that entails. It’s absolutely normal for previous traumas to rear their heads again when something triggers you. I’m no expert but I think you should go for it, atleast try and get this awful nurse out of a job she’s clearly not suited for. I hope you are treated with kindness and respect and take care of yourself as it may stir up some difficult emotions.

@MeMySonAnd1 Thank you. I am not bothered about the money as a first priority, but the only reason it came to mind (as I shared with a PP) was when therapy became unaffordable for me. I really mean it - thank you for showing kindness.

For anyone who doesn't believe this could happen & a nurse be allowed to continue to practice needs to check out the latest hearings & sanctions on the Nursing & Midwives Council website.

https://www.nmc.org.uk/concerns-nurses-midwives/hearings/hearings-sanctions/

@Plzstopthisstupidity - click onto the registrations tab at the top of that page & you can find out that specific midwifes PIN number & it will also show you if she is still registered and which area she is working in.

This exactly

I just want to say a real thank you from the bottom of my heart for all the compassion - it felt calming to share this with actual people and be reaffirmed that this was wrong.

For those who don’t believe me, I can guarantee this happened.

I am now putting my children to bed and have neglected them with my head in Mumsnet for the past hour so I feel terrible and need to give them time now, but I promise to come back and see the updates as soon as I am free. Possibly with a good cup of tea to get me through it, ha. This really does feel freeing. Perhaps this was the therapy i needed.

OP…sounds like a horrible experience. I hope you get the closure you need.
I think people are making the grabby comments because of the title of your thread…the very first question you ask is whether you can get compensation so it kind of set the tone…I can see how it could make it look like that is your priority over anything else. It was just an unfortunate way to start your thread…I can see why people are saying that. That said, it sounds like a horrible situation and it’s a shame you weren’t properly looked after at the time.

From experience, I would be cautious about doing this, whilst you think it might bring you peace it will take a long time and involve reliving a lot of what happened over an extended period. You may come out of it feeling worse, or at least feel worse while it is ongoing which could be years.

To be honest that’s why businesses (including hospitals) take insurance. To cope with possible indemnisation costs of malpractice.

Some people assume that getting compensation is like winning the lottery and that all can be blown out on a holiday or distributed among family members. Compensation is awarded to help victims get back on their feet or to pay for earnings they will miss as a result of an incident.

Five years is a long time, so I am not sure if you are within the deadline to claim compensation but I suggest to contact your hospital’s PALS team to see if they can help you to find closure. 💐

@Plzstopthisstupidity I'm glad talking about it has helped. Keep talking about it. And while none of us can know what happened, I do think that a lot of people don't WANT to believe that things like this can happen, because it makes the world scarier, so they go into denial. It's a form of self-defense, so even though it's painful for you to read and I'm sorry people have accused you of lying, it comes from a place of fear, I think. Go well!

I’m sorry you went through a traumatic incident when you were in such a vulnerable place. I can understand how upsetting that would have been for you. However being grabbed and shouted rudely at doesn’t equal compensation. The threshold for compensation is higher than most would expect - my son had an incident that resulted in him being hospitalised for several weeks and now has a life long condition. It took 6 years of legal back and forth and a court case before he received a few grand. Being grabbed and shouted at is very unpleasant and scary, but unless it caused you bad injuries, caused you to lose money, caused you to be out of work for a period of time, then just hurt feeling doesn’t win you compensation I’m afraid.
By all means put in a complaint about the nurse, but I’d imagine they would struggle to do anything about it now so many years later - difficult to find witnesses, CCTV would have been long deleted by now etc.

What a horrible post

Agree. I think OP should report this. Speak to the hospital. I can quite believe it happened. It must be nice living in a bubble thinking things like this don't happen in our hospitals

I’d definitely consider putting in a complaint to the hospital and/ or the nursing and midwifery council if you’re sure she’s still working. It many come to nothing because 5 years later it’s unlikely that any of the evidence, like other people who could say what they saw, or cctv, etc will still exist. But it might still go on her record to be taken into account if she does anything similar.

In terms of compensation, this seems a bit unlikely if you didn’t suffer loss. From your own perspective I’d consider some kind of therapy/ treatment to try to move forward rather than focus on legal action/ compensation.

I believe you. I was reduced to tears by a bully of a nurse after my first ds was born, emm cs. When I told my community midwife what had happened she said I bet that was (and said this nurses name). She told me to disregard what she had said as the woman had issues and was known for her cruel words.

I don’t know about compensation but I would expect that your nurse was disciplined. With hindsight, I wish I had stood up to my bully nurse. But you are so completely vulnerable.

I think you want confirmation that it happened and I think maybe knowing that disciplinary action was taken may help you.

Oh, and my exDH’s family told me I’d imagined it too but I know I didn’t.