Miss treated at hospital??

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Hi, im not sure if anyone will know anything about this but I need some legal help or advise anything is a help.

I am pregnant and at 18weeks of gestation my waters broke. (PPROM preterm premature rupture of membranes). I am currently nearly 27 weeks and i can risk loosing my baby. However, my question really is. For weeks since this happened I have been led to believe that my waters breaking was something that couldnt of been stopped and no one was to blame for it and that 'it just happens' so my hospital said. I was told that the cause could never be found out. While i believed what they were saying today I have come across some research that shows UTA infection (urine infections) are a common cause of rupture of the membranes and I am so so angry to say that when I was 17 weeks pregnant I was sent to out of hours GP at my local hospital as I was constantly throwing up and couldnt keep anything down such as food or water and was told by the GP it looks as if I had a urine infection as I had white blood cells and protein in my urine and had found it really hard to pass urine that day. He then sent me up to the ward where you go if you are pregnant to receive an injection to stop me vomiting, be put on a drip as i hadnt eaten or drank the whole day and to apparently get some antibiotics. How ever, the midwife there was completely RUDE and basically said the doctor should of given me the injection and sent me home and she was going mad because there was no beds available for me, my aunty who was with me was so shocked it was unbelievable. I was given the injection anyway and put on the drip for the night and my aunty went home. The next day the midwife came back around and came with a different doctor and discharged me home with NO antibiotics as i was apparently 'better' as i had stopped vomiting and could keep food down. I went home and a few days after the vomiting started again and as my surgery was open at this point i went in and told her my story so she got my noted up on the computer only to see the stupid midwife had wrote in my notes that i was admitted with 'severe morning sickness' even though i had not once vomited or had morning sickness in the whole 17 weeks of my pregnancy and the first thing the doctor said is 'is she stupid any midwife should know you cant get morning sickness at 17 weeks you get morning sickness for the first 12 weeks of pregnancy' and the doctor said i should of been given antibiotics that basically i had been left untreated with a urine infection. Now this research i have come across shows urine infection causes rupture of membranes and believe if this midwife hadnt of been so rude and showed no time what so ever to me that I would not be in this situation where i could loose my baby!! im so lucky to even get this far as i was told when it happend to either get an abortion or i would loose my baby!! Does anyone know if i can take legal action? there must be something i can do i will not have my baby DIE because some stupid woman couldnt be bothered with me!! She never wanted me to stay the night because she couldnt be bothered to try and sort me out a bed, ive never been so angry in my life and now it all makes sense why they havent mentioned my urine infection which i sin my notes as they are trying to cover their own backs!! if nothing can be done for me or my baby i atleast want this to stop it from happening to someone else! please any advice/help is appriciated!!x

The fear of losing your baby must be awful. I think you do need to take some action because the way the midwife spoke to you and dealt with you was clearly not good enough. However, I don't think that legal action would be the best way to go - you have to be able to prove firstly that some quantifiable harm was caused to you and/or your baby and secondly that this was caused by their negligence. I really hope that all will be well for the remainder of your pregnancy and delivery and therefore there won't be any quantifiable harm. Medical negligence cases can take years and cost a fortune for both sides, and I'm not sure that your case would be strong enough for a "no win no fee" lawyer to take it on. If everyone who is unhappy with their treatment sues the NHS, then all their money is spent on lawyers and they end up having to cut services and then things get worse, not better.

Can I suggest that you first try contacting the PALS service at the hospital, and tell them you are very distressed at what happened and want it investigated, and to stop it happening to anyone else. If you're not satisfied with the response from PALS then raise it as a formal complaint. Believe me, complaints are taken seriously and investigated and can lead to major changes and improvements. If you're still not happy then you can escalate it to the NHS ombudsman but you have to exhaust the hospital's complaints procedure before going to the ombudsman.

I understand how you are feeling. Unfortunately my understanding is that urinary tract infection is a risk factor that increases the chance of PPROM. There are many other risk factors and in many cases of PPROM no risk factor is identified. It seems unlikely you could prove that your urinary tract infection caused your PPROM so I suspect you don't have cause for legal action. Sorry.

I hope your baby is safe.

thanks teafortara i just want everyone to know im not after money/compensation or anything like that for this, and im not aftee sueing anyone or the NHS. I just want an apology as i know nothing can now be done about my outcome and no amount of money can make maybe loosing a child any better, and for the midwives to get better training in this and to stop this horrible situation from happening to anyone else and also for them to stop being so god dam rude and to realize what her actions have caused! Im going to look into the complaints procedure and make sure something is done about this!

prh47 Im sure it has to raise some kind of awareness and make prescribing antibiotics to pregnant women more efficient to know this CAN cause pprom.

Good luck and all the best for your pregnancy and baby.

I complained about two midwives being rude, neglectful and lying to me when I was induced and the hospital dealt with it brilliantly. I am so reassured by their response I am having DC2 there.

I had support from a maternity advocate from the local support group - PALS in your area may be able to recommend someone. She was not a professional, but someone who had complained and had things resolved in the past so knew how I was feeling, and also knew the process.

Their advice was to write recorded delivery to the hospital trust chief executive so his staff had to sign for it, and to send copies to the head of midwifery and the antenatal ward. It certainly got their attention! I got a full apology in person and in writing and they used my case in midwife training. They don't tell you the exact steps taken with individual mws but I was told they would both be interviewed about my treatment and sent on relevant training, with the possibility of disciplinary action depending on the outcome of interviews and an internal investigation.

I hope you can find a way forward, it helps so much to have peace of mind knowing you have done your best to tackle poor practice by staff who should be so much more compassionate and professional.

I've been following your thread and I wish you the very best of luck for your baby's safe arrival

Thank you TeaForTara

And thanks funchum I'm glad you got a good response! I worry of going through the stress of it all for something not to be done, I know nothing can change what has happened to me but if she continues with poor care this could happen to someone else and at the end of the day it's a baby's life at risk each time! Thank you we are so lucky to have made it this far! And I only hope my baby will be okay upon arrival

To be honest in my case the worst that could happen is that I'd have wasted the time it took to write and post the letter, and the postage cost. Even if you don't hear much back from them, they may well act on it internally, especially if it adds to other complaints they've had about the same mw.

Ide like to think they would do something about it! Its really not fair the way i was treated even if it was not the cause of my PPROM she should have never of treated me like that and i should neer of been sent home without antibiotics. I read my hospital notes today and on my admition the doctor has wrote i was admitted with suspected and symptoms of UTI and she wrote on my discharge form a few pages after i had Hyperemesis which is medical term for morning sickness. So she was wrong there! My urine had keytones +++ and leukocytes ++ also blood + so surley they should never have treated it as 'morning sickness'

Off the point, I know, but I would be worried about any doctor who thinks you only get morning sickness during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. It's perfectly possible to have it throughout pregnancy, as I know only too well from bitter personal experience.