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!!

The fact that “things are coming back to
you” in the way you’ve spoken about them leads
me to believe perhaps this incident did not occur the way you thought.
I have no doubt it could have occurred and perhaps the trauma of the birth with a verbally abusive midwife could be bringing up these feelings.
Either way, you are clearly suffering trauma. Have you tried to access NHS therapy?

Yes, I’ve had 2 c-sections and never given tights to wear. The OP might be referring to the knee high compression stockings but as she talks about her bum being covered she might be talking about her underwear but I would have thought she’d still have the catheter in at that stage.

Having said that, my memory is hazy and my second section was only six months ago so it’s possible the OP’s recollection is not entirely accurate.

Yes, I had similar which is why I would believe the op.

I do think it is worth you taking some time to think about what you really would like the outcome to be. I am financial services qualified and if I make a complaint to a financial service firm I always state clearly in the 1st sentence that this is not a complaint for financial compensation. But I am looking for a process change in xyz direction. (Now that is much more likely to cost the firm a lot more than tiddly compensation so they resist that enormously, but my integrity remains clear). You've had advice to request records from the hospital - that seems a good starting point for looking at what was formally recorded. You've had helpful advice here that you will not obtain financial compensation. So mentally start letting that go.

I believe you @Plzstopthisstupidity . I'm quite disgusted at the PPs that are trying to pick holes. My sister had to wear tights after a C-section.

It is amazing, it doesn't matter how many reviews and inquiries there are into Maternity care in the NHS, women are still not believed!

Cruel treatment (in addition to neglect) happens routinely in hospitals. There are more good staff than bad, but I think you are very lucky if you survive a hospital stay with no incidences of callousness or cruelty.

I think if anxiety/trauma is your concern you'd get more out of counseling than you would a payout.

A midwife can be reported to the NMC who can investigate complaints

I think asking to access your notes may help. To unpick it maybe consider counselling. I would look at getting some advice from a solicitor about your rights. Personally I wouldn’t go for compensation. But I would want to make sure this behaviour isn’t carried on.

This is truly horrific if it genuinely happened op, the only way you’ll know if there are any recordings of this is to contact PALS and start from there.

But don’t discount the power of a reaction to medication, blood loss and exhaustion to completely skew your account of situations. 5 days after giving birth I truly believed my dh had tried to strangle me in my sleep, turned out to be a combination of sleep deprivation and anaemia!

MIL was hospitalised a few years ago and had some kind of reaction to her meds. She rang dh at 2am begging him to
come get her because one of the male nurses was trying to kill her by lethal injection whilst the other nurses were standing just outside her door discussing and arranging a charity concert on her behalf! Two months later and back at home she was still convinced that had all been a genuinely real scenario and no one could ease her mind over it all.

But for piece of mind I’d definitely start with PALS if I were you.

I have been a nurse for nearly 40 years and even when I started I would have been horrified at such an incident.
I actually think that the managers role in this alleged incident is worth pursuing. As a manager she has failed to follow any standard process for dealing with such an incident. You say she got you to sign something, that should be in your records. The manager has also put her registration on the line which is surprising, there can be no process in the NHS where a nurse manager gets a patient to sign a bit of paper as a reasonable conclusion to the situation described. I would request your medical notes and see what is documented.

Agree. And I had compression tights on after both my sections.

I also noticed on both occasions that some of the midwives on the postnatal ward treated the C-section mums differently (they were ignored and spoken to rudely). I’m so sorry this happened to you, OP and I’m sorry that some don’t believe you.

One thing is bugging me on this post and that's everyone saying get counselling as if it's just a free resource! I pay £55 for both my children to have counselling due to unavoidable trauma a week, it's costing a lot of money and isn't, in a cost of living crisis, just something many people can just stump up for, even with cutting stuff elsewhere. Counselling is not cheap, even the 'discounts' are not free. The only thing the NHS round us offers is 6 weeks of extremely routinized CBT not relevant to any specific problem.

This story isn’t believable at all. I’m sorry but if you’re saying there was that many witnesses then either security or the police would have been called. No way would you go back to your room and her carry on working afterwards. Maybe something happened but not what you’re saying.

I just want to say, I actually asked my partner to take over bed time and I have resigned myself to the front steps because I am
in tears right now. Speaking about this has brought back very difficult feelings and reminded me what a shit time in my life that was. I’m only writing this to let it out, sorry for turning Mumsnet into my personal diary.

Also fuck the DailyMail just in case they decide they want to write a stupid article about medical assaults, the idiots.

taking a breather and then I’ll get back to your comments and to real life.

I meant to say I pay £110 a week, it's £55 a session, and that's not the highest, many are charging £70 a session now. Counselling can be good but it is not just some free option people can dip into if they have horrible flashbacks from bad nursing (and some nurses on maternity wards are extremely callous, as well as the kind ones).

@CharlotteRose90 perhaps people thought the OP was being restrained for her own good? Who knows? I have certainly seen people manhandled for this reason in hospital, including under 18's on the eating disorder ward who are held down screaming. Not everything is done 'nicely' and perhaps people weren't sure what they saw or thought a nurse would be in control and doing the right thing.

OP it’s not that people disbelieve that medical staff can assault a patient, it’s the fact that a) it is coming back to you over the course of posting on this thread (if I understood that correctly) and b) that it was witnessed by so many people who did not even report it to PALS. Ignoring the latter part, I do wonder how much your repressed and newly recovered memories are accurate. Nobody here can tel you this. You are clearly traumatised and deserve to seek help.

I’ve been a senior NHS midwife for years, I managed a postnatal ward for 4 years. If I witnessed a midwife physically and verbally abuse a patient, that midwife would be suspended, referred to the NMC and struck off. They certainly wouldn’t be moved to another ward for a bit, and I also wouldn’t give you their name on a slip of paper or make you sign anything. I’m not saying it didn’t happen, I’m saying your account of what happened is frankly bizarre. If it is true, you should have reported it at the time. Five years down the line, I’d maybe contact the head of midwifery and take it from there? You won’t get any form of compensation though, if your account is accurate then there isn’t any proof.

And just a pedantic aside, there are no rooms where you heat formula up in a microwave in hospital, that’s a dangerous way of heating baby milk so I’d be reporting that too tbh.

I just want to add, some details have been changed slightly as I have (however briefly) shared this story with people in my life. I actually discussed it slightly at a training event at work even, one about wellbeing etc. So that’s that.

The overall story remains the same. I was, in my full senses, assaulted by a hospital staff member in a hallway in full view of a handful of patients, staff, and the ward manager after I had given birth by C-section.

The title of your post put me off to be honest. Waiting 5 years to suddenly remember this rings bells too. Honestly you have no hope of getting money out of this for therapy. None of it rings true from the tights to the assault in front of loads of witnesses to the sudden memory of this happening 5 years later.

For everyone saying the OP is grabby for considering asking for compensation because there as no financial cost to her, I disagree. After previously having no mental health issues I got PTSD after giving birth to DS2. I wasn't physically assaulted but the way I was treated by the midwife refused to talk to me or support me while I was giving birth (tired, end of shift) and I feel this contributed to a severe birth injury. I was too traumatised to engage with the event for over 3 years after it happened so by the time I wrote to the unit, the 3 years had expired and they basically said they would consider the feedback but nothing could happen. I wasn't seeking financial compensation but I wanted to the midwife to know how her behaviour had affected me. She'd left and that didn't happen. I needed a many sessions of counselling to begin to begin to recover which is obviously NOT available on the NHS so trauma induced by medical neglect (or assault in the case of the OP) does incur a cost to the victim. There are too many stories of shit care in maternity units. Really those units need to be prioritised for the best care because of the massive impact that bad care has, not just on the physical health of mothers and babies but down the line on PND and PTSD and the start that children get in life. Better care would make so much difference and actually save costs that individuals and society incur from all the after effects from substandard care for birthing mothers. OP I think you should complain and if they brush you off ask for a meeting.

I'd go to the police

Nursing & Midwifery Council (NMC) for complaints, not Royal College of Nursing (RCN).

Just let it lie, OP. Some nurses shouldn't be nursing, but there's no way to know after the event. Get counselling or whatever it takes to help you move on. That's my advice.

(And saying "fuck the Daily Mail" won't make them any more or less likely to filch this thread).

What a horrific experience for you. As you have the nurse’s name, report her to the NMC. A datix (incident report) will have been completed at the time, or should have been, so there will be evidence of the assault. I’m a registered nurse and I can confirm there are rogue nurses within the profession. They need to be reported and removed from the register.