Gave birth and then broke my leg!

[BeeJay24]

Hi, can anyone advise on what action I should take (if any). I gave birth to a healthy boy which I'm grateful for, but the day after I blacked out, fell and dislocated and broke my ankle on my way to the shower on the maternity ward. I later found out the black out was due to me being very anaemic having lost my than a usual amount of blood during a tough delivery. Should I have been told I couldn't go for a shower alone, should I have been escorted, should I been made aware of the blood loss?? My ankle was fixed the same day with a metal plate, screws and I can't put weight on it for 6 weeks with weeks/months of follow up treatment. I can't carry my newborn around anywhere, can't push him in his pram and I'm having to have 24 hour care. I know it's not forever and not the end of the world…there's worse out there, but it has affected me, my husband, family and my son and I'd like to highlight it so no-one else has to go through it. Any advice appreciated.

There must be a hospital complaints procedure - you need to follow that.
sorry this happened to you it must be awful.

When I had ds4 I was escorted to the shower after he was born as I had lost enough blood for them to want to give me a transfusion and they were concerned that I was wobbly.

I was forced into the shower despite blood loss (they tested my haemaglobin after ds was born and it was loooow) and nearly passed out, I'm surprised it's still going on.

You need to complain first, PALS will be your best bet. Take it from there.

I hope you're on the mend quickly.

They have been negligent and failed to give you adequate care IMO (ex midwife).
Get in touch with PALS and take it from there.
You have the right to see your records; you need to know what the blood loss was, how it was caused, what treatment/management you were given, and what your pre and post labour haemoglobin was.

Hb tested within 24 hours of birth is not usually accurate - it can be artificially high. It takes a little while for the dehydration to correct and the haemoglobin to fall to its true level.

You should be having heparin injections to prevent potentially fatal blood clots. If this is not happening you need immediate advice from a haematologist.

I had to have a blood transfusion 2 days later! I did ask several staff on the ward about the shower…where it was, for towels etc and they just pointed locations out to me.
Sorry, new to these sites…what's PALS? I didn't think I needed to ask for notes at the time as leading up to the accident I had no reason to think I was ill. Thank you for the responses.

Patient Advice Liaison Service.
You are entitled to see your records.
Persist.

I made a complaint about appalling neglect recently and the hospital "lost" the medical records for several months while they all got their story straight.

Got what PALs is! I'm on 6 weeks of the injections to prevent clots. I'm pretty certain I read what the amount of blood loss was and I know what the hg levels were after birth, but not sure before birth. Thank you.

I was forced to go for a shower on my own after DS1 despite losing over 1l (they said I had to or wouldn't be allowed the catheter out that was causing me pain). Nearly blacked out.

After DS2, I had had GA, lost over 2l this time and had also had a transfusion, crazy low BP. I was allowed to go for a bath that time...

That was 2 different hospitals so I think it's the norm, shouldn't be and I definitely think you should complain.

This is awful. Makes you wonder what the benefit is of having a baby in hospital with such shoddy aftercare.

I trained as a midwife in 1978.
New mothers were bed bathed after birth and taken to the shower in a wheel chair until they were at least 48 hours post delivery.

First timers could stay in hospital up to 10 days, 2nd timers 48 hours to 5 days.

They got breakfast in bed for the first 48 hours.

A PPH was a serious event and something to be discussed by all the labour ward staff to make sure everything that should have been done was done.

How times have changed.

Goodness, I was kicked out a day after having ds (Sunday so they were clearing the ward for Monday I think). I was severely anaemic and sent home with iron pills which made me vomit. The community midwife checked my stitches once and never bothered again. I took them out myself three weeks later No Hb test before giving birth either. Ds is 15 now so I really had hoped things would improve.

Google your hospital name and NHS complaints and you'll find all of the details.

LittleFrogs. I work in a unit where there's at least one decent pph a day And I mean over a litre, large pph.

Its not unusual to come on shift and find 2 or 3 women on hdu care for pph.

Afaik, nationally its a rising problem.

But yes someone who was anemic or had had a large pph I'd walk to the loo/shower the first time they got up.

I worked as a midwife for around 7 years in the 70s and 80s.
PPH was not common. It was considered a serious, potentially avoidable event.

However - a close relative of mine almost died from massive PPH recently.
Shocking care. Staff shortage is an issue, but poor training and general ignorance seems to be a factor too.

Also there is an increase in the number of people not having antenatal care, so problems are not picked up early.

I had a three litre PPH after having DD 5 months ago. Wasn't escorted anywhere by medical staff, and was expected to pee in a jug to show output, after catheter was removed,but before being moved from labour ward to postnatal ward.

But then the hospital I gave birth in was a total dump, and should be closed down IMHO. Going to add this to my epic letter of formal complaint. Gosh, they are going to have a fun read!

Thank you all for taking the time to respond, I appreciate your advice and opinions x

Yes I thought I'd black out after my 2nd pregnancy whilst going for a shower. I do believe new mums should be accompanied regardless of how many kids they've had. I'd had a c section. To break your ankle ..... I'm fairly hard and know things can happen and am sympathetic to nurse/midwives overwork, but this shouldn't happen.

Sorry this happened to you.

Definitely complain through PALS. Falls in hospitals are recorded incidents and there should be measures in place to prevent them. Anyone at risk of a fall should be identified and assisted for all mobilising, especially showering.

If you don't have family support, the cost of paying for ongoing help will be expensive and personally I would want compensation if they were negligent. Emotionally it must be really tough, I feel for you. Hope you have a good HV supporting you.

Not the same but I broke my toe when DS was 4 months and was on crutches for weeks. It was a complete nightmare, so I really sympathise.

Congrats on on you baby btw

Thanks again for all the responses :)

Slight sidetrack but do they know why you broke your ankle when you fell?

It's just that my granny had osteoporosis and I've never been good at drinking milk so my mum is forever on at me to be careful about falls as she thinks my bones will be taking a speedy dive towards osteoporosis.

I'm not a medic but the way you've described it, it sounds like the fall can be explained by blood loss but the dislocated and broken ankle could be a warning flag of something that might be worth getting checked out if nobody's mentioned it before.

Of course, it might just be that you were unlucky in the way that you fell. But it might be that if 10 people fell like you did, only one of them would be expected to break their ankle. And so it's at least worth asking the questions, even if they say that there's no problem - if you have been given a warning sign then it would be good to know that!

Good luck in taking action against them - they definitely should have known better.