The hospital fucked up my caesarian - now they want me to wait five months before fixing things [big bloody rant]

[whomovedmychocolate]

Long story short, repeat caesarian for pre-eclampsia last month.

Escaped five days post partum - still felt really crappy.

Developed peurperal sepsis (deep joy), given massive doses of antibiotics and was finally starting to feel better Sunday but had this massive lump in my abdomen which wasn't getting any better. I looks like a had an adult sized jawbone sticking out my lower belly. Oh and it's really sore too.

So yesterday I went to see GP and he took one look and admitted me to hospital.

Had a scan this morning, the infection is almost gone but I had an incisional hernia, which apparently is where they trap a bit of your major organs in the muscle when they sew the muscles together.

Unfortunately there is a five month wait to get it fixed on the NHS and because the caesarian wasn't done under my private medical insurance, they don't cover the resulting fuck- ups either, so I'm left with waiting nearly half a year to get out of pain or paying around £2K to get it sorted.

Oh and apparently it may turn gangrenous or cause major organ damage if it gets strangulated...at which point the NHS will consider it an emergency and do something.

Otherwise they've given me 28 paracetamol tablets.

Well I went to see the GP this morning - his response was 'god they must be so embarrassed' (he means the hospital). So he's going to refer me, but until I see the consultant I can't really do much, the consultant for the private hospital is the same as the guy for the public hospital so that's the next step.

I'm also requesting my maternity notes (I particularly want to see the surgical report - since they reckon they got all the placenta out intact and they noted that they had problems with my stomach muscles adhering together yet failed to follow up both things post partum and it turned out neither was okay).

The good news is, now I'm actually doing something about it, I feel a bit better. The health visitor has also lodged incident reports about me not receiving appropriate care post partum and so that'll add weight to things.

DH used to be a lawyer though and has some very good mates who'd enjoy this sort of thing if needs be.

That all sounds really positive WMMC, good for you. I am glad you are managing to keep the lid on your head about it, and take practical steps. All power to you, and I hope you get what you need, and these muppets are taken to task.

Sounds good wmmc. hope that your GP is able to expediate things for you. I would wait til Mon (when you can be pretty sure that the consultant's secretary will have received the referral) and then ring up and ask for cancellation appts etc.

THat sounds really good, WMMC. Talking to the consultant sec is a good move.I managed to get my MIL seen this summer instead of september by making lots of very calm,polite but 'I'm not getting off the phone til something happens' type phone calls.

poor you wmmc.

can physio help your hernia?

Have only read the beginning of this and am horrified. Of course it's wrongto do the following but suggest that it's worth it and will yield quicker results:

1. phone consultant's secretary, explaining outrage and disbelief that it'll take so long

1. phone chef exec and express as above

1. Phone GP and as above

1. phon e Mp and as above

In all cases explain that yout outrage at delay in rectifying botched procedure is not just because you are an uppity bint but that, having discussed detail with yourfrined X or Y (neamed) BBC/ Times/ Guardian/ Mail Health Corr that they share your outrage etc and ask them to double check surgery lists etc and call you back with a revised date

Not nice but if you are risking internal organ strangulation I'd say sometimes you have to do it

Phone MP ??

"Hello MP, I've suffered a well known complication of a surgical procedure and I may have to wait the standard time for repair of it, unless it becomes an emergency, and this just isn't good enough."???

I have every sympathy for wmmc, please don't think otherwise, but I can't see what help her MP will be at all!

Another thread to send to Lord Darzi and Alan Bennett who were last seen and heard politicking to the MN massive in Live Chat a few months ago.

anyone willing to draft a letter which we can send 'we the undersigned...'

sorry to hear things havent gone well. i needed an op last year and was told 4 months but phoned every day and eventually went in on a cancellation after 2? i didnt have a child then (and am only pregnant now) so could be much more flexible, so sorry if this suggestion doesnt work...

as if to add insult to injury, i've been getting wound up by this thread re NHS staff members getting preferential treatment...
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/2724/578230

i should add that i do think very highly of the NHS before i get flamed again...

Agree with Ladida - and for those of you who are shouting about "negligence" - how is this negligence? Its a known complication of surgery - there is no evidence that the surgeon was negligent?

Ladidadi and Nervousal - 'a known complication of surgery' - what, so WMMC should take it on the chin, then? For fuck's sake. I think you are posting on the wrong thread. Or you haven't read this one properly. Or you think people who have c sections deserve all they get.

Just read this - OMG - WWMC what a nightmare. You're doing the right thing - get those notes and make a noise. Even if DH has a good rant or your MP gets involved - get seen.

I had a similiar experience with DD1 (not as bad as yours). I knew something was wrong (passing placenta weeks later) and I ended up with such a bad an infection that I contracted reactive arthritis - nightmare - couldn't even hold DD1 for more than a few minutes and barely walk I should've complained...as now have bad joints as a consequence.

Before DD2 was born 9 weeks ago I requested a meeting - saw my notes - the head of obs-gyn admitted mistakes in surgery had been made - and I'd not even been officially discharged!!
This time round I was treated like a queen!

True c-sections have complications - but that's no excuse for poor care or complacency. You're doing the right thing - good luck

Nervousal, I recommended legal advice but did not shout negligence. I am not in favour of sue
ing anyone (My son was brain damaged at birth and I am not sue
ing the JR). The reason I recommended legal advice is the potential damage caused by the five month wait to get it fixed.

A bit less abrasive will go a long way .

Whether or not the hospital/surgeon was negligent is a seperate matter to the fact that patients in UK regulary have to wait - in pain and considerable distress - for surgery.

True, here in Germany we moan about our health insurance contributions, but in a case like this WMMC would most likely have been admitted to hospital within a few days to have the op.

I also don't see the harm of WMMC finding out if there was negligence or not. If nothing else, it will give her piece of mind.

I hope you get the op soon, WMMC. Sounds horrible.

apologies if I came across as abrasive. I just think that it is unreasonable for people to start telling OP to go to papers etc to complain about hospital when in fact there is no evidence that they have done anything wrong?

Of course I don't think that people who have c sections "deserve all they get" - just that sometimes bad things happen and it isn't necessarily anyones fault.

Actually Lady Thompson, if you had read the thread properly then you would notice that I empathasised with wmmc and described having wound probs myself after a section. I don't know where you get any inference from my posts that I think people who have c sections "deserve all they get".

I have offered wmmc what I consider the best advice to get the outcome that she wants, a speedy resolution to her problems.

Agree entirely with nervousal, with the best will in the world complications occur that are not necessarily anyone's fault.

Actually Lady Thompson, if you had read the thread properly then you would notice that I empathasised with wmmc and described having wound probs myself after a section. I don't know where you get any inference from my posts that I think people who have c sections "deserve all they get".

I have offered wmmc what I consider the best advice to get the outcome that she wants, a speedy resolution to her problems.

Agree entirely with nervousal, with the best will in the world complications occur that are not necessarily anyone's fault.

You might think 5 months, the 'standard' (er, whose standard??) time for this poor girl to wait for surgery, which her GP (who probably has a better idea that you or I, let's be frank) has already inferred was down to the surgeon probably doing a crap job, is ok. Well, I don't; and she should rattle every bloody cage she can to get faster results. Furthermore, an MP I know (not my MP though) was personally instrumental in having an effect on the shocking level of care an elderly client of mine was receiving in a overstretched London hospital. So not a futile suggestion at all, whoever suggested that.

www.18weeks.nhs.uk/Content.aspx?path=/What-is-18-weeks/patient

I don't care, LaDiDaDi, if the NHS standard IS 18 weeks, or even 20 weeks. It's not a statistic to be proud of or to lean blithely back and ACCEPT, and in this particular case it is certainly unacceptable. There are lots of tenets of NHS policy that are unacceptable (imo), particularly with regards to maternity care. There's another thread going at the moment about the care people have received after having sections, and it's shocking reading, for the most part. So, a) whilst sometimes things go wrong, I doubt this surgeon's work was something to be proud of, b) they ought to blinking well put it right and c) sharpish. I guess some people might take it lying down if it happened to them; you may be one of them. Er...I'm not.

You poor thing.

You've had loads of good advice and really hope that by hassling them you can get this sorted ASAP. Bloody hell, shocking!

Get better soon. x

I wish you lot would stop beating each other up Your passion is appreciated but honestly you all have valid points here.

So I called up today using the NHS 'choose and book' system (which doesn't work online here so you have to call and queue up to talk to a real person). And I have an appointment next month. Only problem is, in the course of today the hernia has got about a third bigger and much more painful so I'm heading back to the GP tomorrow.

At this rate it'll end up being emergency surgery in any case.

Whatever happens, I'm going to make a complaint about the fact that it wasn't checked - mistakes do happen, hernias in repeat sections in particular. But it was agreed when I had the section, in my pre-surgical risk assessment (when hernias were not mentioned as a risk) that all damage would be repaired during the surgery or the next day if that could not be done. Had I been checked properly (it was immediately apparent) I would have had it sorted out as a small keyhole procedure, rather than the more extensive open surgery I am now facing because each time I've moved, I've made the hernia bigger.

Next month btw is for the consultant appt - my 18 weeks don't start till then

No, wmmc, your 18 weeks starts from the point of referral, ie now!

Nu-uh - if you read the rules careful (ie understand the weasel words) the clock is 'when the treatment starts'. The treatment starts with the visit to the consultant. So they have 18 weeks from referral from the GP to me seeing the consultant. They then have an unlimited time to treat me it seems .