So...is it normal for the hospital to just make up stuff in your birth notes then?

[chequersmate]

I got my notes from DD's birth, hoping they may shed some light as to why things went the way they did....

Well, there is very little detail regarding her head positioning and what the Dr did with the forceps (the Dr told me her head was in the wrong position and I couldn't have delivered her naturally, but there is nothing about this in my note).

Just looked through them again in their entirety and there is a section regarding the amount of pain I was experiencing - apparently it was zero for the final four hours - this despite the fact that I quite CLEARLY remember that my epidural wore off and they refused to top it up despite the fact that I was in agony - I most certainly remember what crowning felt like, and also what it felt like to be stitched - my notes say I asked for two lots of voltarol. Why would I need it if the pain I felt was zero?

There is also an interesting section which is a tick box saying that they have discussed with me: co-sleeping (they didn't), car seats and car safetfy (they didn't), smoking (they didn't) contraception (they didn't) and all manner of other stuff. This has been dated the day before I went into hospital

I just wondered if it is standard for them to make this kind of stuff up, does anyone know?

It's what isn't in my notes and the fact that I have been recorded as experiencing no pain which I am particularly unhappy with.

Thank you for the infomation Starlight.

It's the notes for my 7 year old that I want to look at. Would like to see how they have described the fact that they wouldn't believe I was in full blown 3rd stage and nearly gave birth in the toilets and no one answering the emergancy bell or listening to DH who finally got the receptionist to do something and the 'wonderful experiance' in the birthing room and my after care which would take to long to write out here but I think you get the way it went just from the first bit.

Starlight I've just reread your post, £50 really.

Think I'll have to ring PALS and see what they say.

yes I had to pay to get my dodgy ones and it took ages!

£50 that is , can they really get away with that? I was under the impression that under the data protection act, you are entitled to request all information held about you for which you can be charged no more than £10.

"to cover admin costs..." yeah right!! I think that the average is about £40 now, its shocking!

considering how long my MW kept her head down apparantly writing my notes while I begged/howled for pain relief I was gobsmacked at how many of the traumatising bits were omitted - much as we studied them we couldtn' find "2nd degree tear sutured without pain relief" or "husband asked to press emergency button due to fhr stopping"
amazing what they 'remembered' to write though

£50

It's standard in my area that we're discharged with a copy of our notes (and the baby's) to hand over to the community midwives. Much easier and you can have a gander before you're discharged 10 days after arriving home. BUT if I remember correctly they only cover the postnatal bit not the labour itself.

According to my notes dd was not 7 days late, she was born at exactly 40 weeks with no complications. No mention of the length of time waiting for an epidural which they had trouble placing and there fore prolapsed one of my discs, nor the fact that it took 6 attempts to get a canular in. Also no mention of leaving me alone once epidural was in and popping back every hour to tell me if I didn't progress any further within the next hour they would do an ES, this went on for abour 5 hours! DD eventually arrived without intervention with cord around her neck!

Not seen notes for ds which should be interesting as they didn't believe I was in labour and I nearly had him in the soding lift.

Wonder what fun and games we will have this time round.

Oh yes my dd was born in 1998 .

I was put in a side room with no equipment and told to sleep because I just had a water infection I laboured from 10am until 3pm alone with just dp to support me .

By 4pm my mum and dad turned up and I was screaming in agony a midwife stood in the door and asked me why I was bothering them by making all the noise and went .

At 6pm a random doctor who was bank staff walked in checked me and found me to be 9cm she broke my waters and did not tell anyone or have anyone in the room .

7pm I started delivering my dd my Dad ran and basically picked up a mw and fetched her in the room just as my Mum delivered dd's head the mws exact word were " oh shit " .

7.20pm DD delivered MW shouting and screaming for a resuccitar ? Took 10 mins to arrive no clamps for dd's cord so I have photos of her with a massive pair of scissors hanging from her belly.

8.00pm Mw takes me to loo and apoligises .

10pm I am woken up to be taken to ward a very nice mw is taking to me and teling me I need to complain and that she will be sending the mw's who were supposed to be looking after me to chat to me in morning.

NOTES VERSION

I was admitted at 9.30pm and put in a soft room as I was showing signs of UTI but slightly dialated . MW talked to me about possibility of deivering and went through pain relief and feeding options with me .

This did not happen.

4pm my parents asked that I was checked and they tried to take my blood and I refused .
A mw could not sit in with me as they were understaffed and busy .

No blood was asked for since I was admitted and when my mum asked for someone to come in they were at the nurses station eating chocolates the nurse then came and asked why I was making the noise.

6pm a doctor who no longer works for the trust did not follow procedure and broke my waters .

7pm MW went out of my room to attend to an emergency and I started to push she ran back to room only stopping to grab a resuccitar and got back to room just as my mum delivered babys head.

Yeah right.

8.00pm Mw denies apolgy .

I recieved a letter stating that a full investigation had been undertaken and all staff talked to but basicaly it was my own bad luck for been in labour on a busy day what makes it 10 times worse is that my dd died 5 weeks later (unrelated) and all the mw's involved sent a sympathy card knowing full well they had just told a oad of bullshit about my labour .

I know have a very unhealthy trust in hospitals .

Oh yes my dd was born in 1998 .

I was put in a side room with no equipment and told to sleep because I just had a water infection I laboured from 10am until 3pm alone with just dp to support me .

By 4pm my mum and dad turned up and I was screaming in agony a midwife stood in the door and asked me why I was bothering them by making all the noise and went .

At 6pm a random doctor who was bank staff walked in checked me and found me to be 9cm she broke my waters and did not tell anyone or have anyone in the room .

7pm I started delivering my dd my Dad ran and basically picked up a mw and fetched her in the room just as my Mum delivered dd's head the mws exact word were " oh shit " .

7.20pm DD delivered MW shouting and screaming for a resuccitar ? Took 10 mins to arrive no clamps for dd's cord so I have photos of her with a massive pair of scissors hanging from her belly.

8.00pm Mw takes me to loo and apoligises .

10pm I am woken up to be taken to ward a very nice mw is taking to me and teling me I need to complain and that she will be sending the mw's who were supposed to be looking after me to chat to me in morning.

NOTES VERSION

I was admitted at 9.30pm and put in a soft room as I was showing signs of UTI but slightly dialated . MW talked to me about possibility of deivering and went through pain relief and feeding options with me .

This did not happen.

4pm my parents asked that I was checked and they tried to take my blood and I refused .
A mw could not sit in with me as they were understaffed and busy .

No blood was asked for since I was admitted and when my mum asked for someone to come in they were at the nurses station eating chocolates the nurse then came and asked why I was making the noise.

6pm a doctor who no longer works for the trust did not follow procedure and broke my waters .

7pm MW went out of my room to attend to an emergency and I started to push she ran back to room only stopping to grab a resuccitar and got back to room just as my mum delivered babys head.

Yeah right.

8.00pm Mw denies apolgy .

I recieved a letter stating that a full investigation had been undertaken and all staff talked to but basicaly it was my own bad luck for been in labour on a busy day what makes it 10 times worse is that my dd died 5 weeks later (unrelated) and all the mw's involved sent a sympathy card knowing full well they had just told a oad of bullshit about my labour .

I know have a very unhealthy trust in hospitals .

Sorry for typos and mammoth post I get a bit angsty when writing about dd's birth.

Comewhine, I don't blame you.

I've just asked my midwife if she can get my notes from DS's birth so I can try to work out what, exactly, went so badly wrong (and also what the hell they did to me since I got no explanation at the time). I'm feeling a little depressed now reading this because it sounds as if my notes may not give me an explanation either. Fab.

It is standard ime

DS2 was born by c-section. There was a slight knock of the knife and my bladder was damaged. My notes appeared with a whole 2 paragraphs about how the risks of bladder injury had been explained to me (they hadn't) and I had agreed to take the risk (I hadn't).

I thought it was quite funny at the time.

Since then I have met lots of people whose children have potentially suffered birth injuries. Every single one of them when requesting their notes has found they have been 'lost'. ONce? UNfortunate. Many times? I am

Tamlin, I really hope they do shed some real light on what went on.

Comewhinewithme, I'm so sorry to hear of your DD's death, that must have been devastating

oh - and since meeting all these children who will require lifelong care but have no notes, I find crappy and made up notes a lot less funny than I did. (My bladder is fine, or I might have found it less funny faster).

oh comewhine, I posted without reading your story first. I'm so sorry

If anyone had a difficult birth now the only advice I would give them would be to not let their notes out of their site and get them copied.

My antenatal notes had someonelses blood results in them and a letter to a completely defferent persons gp, just thinking now if there had have been something wrong with the other persons blood how long would have taken them to notice
Thankfully they were under a completely different consultant, and thats how I noticed when flicking through my notes(thank god for long waiting times too or I wouldn't have been looking through my notes)