Help me navigate this potential medical negligence...

[sharingiscaring23]

I had a C section (elective) which left me in a lot of pain. 8 days later I was in so much pain I was taken for a CT scan, where it was discovered some of my internal stitches had come undone & my bowel had herniated through them. I needed emergency surgery & was taken to theatre there & then. At this time my baby was in ICU. I was put on a ward far away from him & couldn't see him for a day. The consultant & surgeon who fixed me said they had never ever seen anything like this before & it was certainly not a common repercussion of a C section.

PALS have launched an investigation as I asked them to, I want answers. However it's been several months now. I keep chasing to be told that the investigation is ongoing. Having never experienced anything like this, I don't know if they are telling the truth, how I can speed things up, or in general if there is anything else I can do. Does anyone have any advice? A friend said why don't I contact a solicitor but I'm not sure I see the point as I have a feeling their findings will say 'it's just one of those things' because they won't want to pay out.

Thank you x

@Battybaa I have no doubt I will not get any compensation but I would like their formal view on what happened. I'm sorry you had such an awful time.

It would be a subject access request not FOI. They are usually provided by the medico legal department at the hospital.

A solicitor can obtain the medical records on your behalf ( you just sign a form). I’d also get them to look at the events surrounding your daughter’s birth and brain injury.

Stitches can become undone. I had bowel surgery where the internal stitches became undone and it did leave me with a temporary stoma bag. Risks happen with surgery. Doesn’t mean it was negligence.

Hi OP. I'm a NHS director and cover risk, legal and complaints. Firstly, you need the investigation into your complaint to conclude and for you to receive the response in writing so you know the outcome. They will have a complaints policy. I'd call complaints and say you appreciate it could be complex but it has gone on for some time so could they give you an estimate date of when you should expect a response. Also could they give you a weekly progress update.

Also request a copy of their complaints policy to be emailed to you so you can see what their response timeframes are and appeals process should you not be happy with the response you get.

At same time either via complaints, PALs or just through their switchboard, ask to be put through the relevant person for access to all your medical notes that they hold on you. Its called subject access request (you being the data subject requesting access to your records). So say to them that you wish to make a subject access request for a copy of all your records. You'll complete a request form and they'll release them usually in a few weeks.

Once you have a copy of your records and complaints response you can decide what to do next.

Hope this helps...

Yes it's a subject access request that op needs to make I think

@AgaMM Again, hence the word 'potential' in the title...

@LadyLolaRuben That's fantastic thank you so much. I do feel like I'm navigating the complete unknown so I have no idea of what is acceptable with regards to timescales & a conclusion. When you say call complaints, is this separate to PALS? Sorry if this is obvious, I have no idea. Thank you again.

Yeh ignore this post @sharingiscaring23 theyve really missed the point and didn’t have a similar experience whenever they had constipation that they sorted themselves! At home!

As well as requesting your notes I would request one of those birth debrief appointments. They will go through your notes during it. It sounds as though you had a very distressing time of things and it would also be worth seeing a counsellor to talk that through.

pain, complications after your surgery and distress at not being with your baby are all big things to cope with, let alone all 3 of those things at once. Might be worth some counselling to work through all the feelings? Gentlest of hugs to you and I hope you and your baby are now physically doing well, and that with support ad a bit of time that you feel better too.

Sorry PALs and complaints are usually part of the same team. PALs cover more informal queries and issues where proactive help is given at the time of a problem e.g. difficulty getting an appointment, basically its customer service. Complaints is more after the event where there needs to a full and formal investigation.

I'll keep checking in on the thread to see how you're getting on...

If you've already got a contact in PALs re getting a copy of complaints policy, I'd start there. They can always transfer you over. But to be honest it's usually the same staff working across both remits

Complaints are also overseen by an ombudsman. So if they don't deal with your complaint to a satisfactory level you have the right to go to the ombudsman for independent review

Usually if a complaint identifies a patient has come to harm they have to tell you under a rule call Duty of Candour. That triggers a safety review, usually by their safety/risk team. They will look at it to see what lessons can be learnt to prevent future harm to others. There are risks to surgery and sometimes things just become complicated and it's no one's fault.

At same time if its identified that harm could have been prevented, the case is passed to the hospitals legal team. The team log the case with their solicitors and then instruct a solictor yourself. The two liaise and hammer out a resolution which may be settled in or out of court.

Hope all this helps

I'm a medical negligence solicitor.

Complaint investigations do tend to take months to conclude. It's incredibly frustrating being left to just wait. If PALS cannot give you a timescale escalate the matter to the Chief Executive's office.

I agree that it would be prudent to request your hospital records from the Trust. If you look on their website it'll tell you how to make a subject access request (not a FOI Request). Records should be provided within 30 days. Don't annotate them

It's not for me or any other posters to tell you whether there has been negligence. Only an expert Obs & Gynae can provide an opinion with any authority, I'd suggest you contact a medical negligence firm (check out Legal 500 or Chambers & Partners for Tier 1 firms near you). If they think you may have a case, they'll instruct a medical expert to review your records and report on the standard of surgery.

If you do bring a claim, it's likely to be modest in value as you've suffered no permanent injury. Having further surgery which would otherwise have been avoided has some value and you may be able to claim for care provided by family.

I hope that helps

FOI has nothing to do with medical records. Really you could do some casual research before proclaiming such bullshit.

It sounds like sort of thing which is a normal complication of surgery. (stitches coming undone) while it's shit for you I'm not sure why you are so convinced it's due to somone not doing their job properly as apposed to a complication. You might have a legitimate reason to think this. But I think it would be very hard to prove.