anyone complained to NHS? birth horror

[nightmarebirth]

hi, if anyone has experience of complaining to the NHS i would be very grateful. I have complained about various events to my local hospital and received a letter back which is so rude and unhelpful it distresses me to read it.

basically, I had mt son by c-sectiion about 3 months ago. the surgeon cut my baby's face and he had to have stitches at birth. The scar is there for life and its quite long. they just said 2% babies are cut, he was just unlucky.

i was also advised by a consultant to accept a procedure, which was overruled by a passing consultant who told us he was on his way home and not to have this procedure as i would ost likely die. They said there was a diff of opinion, but everything was ok in the end.

i was treated v badly after the birth-some examples... forced out of bed to wash at 6.00am and mw refused to accompany me in shower even though i had lost 2 litres blood and begged not to be left, mw refused to empty colos my bag/ take out finished canula as not her job. also one mw walked off with my baby leaving me screaming at her not to. i was stuck in bed due to epidural. in the end another patient went and found her. the hospital say the midwives did their best and what i say cannot be true.

other things happened but this post is v long as it is

i find all this deeply distressing and cry at the thought of having another baby at that hopsital, am frightened will die, or baby be cut, or care will be worse.

what response should i give, if any? will it be a load of stress for me, its been horrible to remember as it is.. i would like them to aplogise, assure never happen again, and tell me what they will do to stop babies being cut.

thanks for any advice..sorry for mega long post

bumping this up for you xxx

bumpity bump!

have you thought of seeing a solicitor?

You were treated very badly and like you touched upon you may find having another baby hard. I think you should consult a legal team to if not a solicitor

If the hospital is not taking you seriously, or trying to pretend nothing happened out of the ordinary, then I'd reach for a lawyer specialising in medical negligence, personally. Sometimes it's the only way to make those in power sit up and take notice.

You could also try to contact Birth Trauma or Action for Victims of Medical Accidents (which now has a new name that I can't recall but search on old name should find them).

hi there

i don't have a solicitor, i do have one through my home insuranc. but what will they suggest? i dn;t want too much stress and upset anyone incase o have another baby. its my son and his scarred face that upsets me most

How dreadful
There is quite a lot in the archives re bad birth stories.Will have a look..

Oh, sweetheart, I'm so sorry to read this . It sounds horrific.

I can't give much practical advice (I didn't complain after my own nightmare birth). If you feel you can, though, I would press the issue, because it doesn't sound as though they were thorough or conscientious in dealing with yout. Your child was cut and scarred - you deserve a proper explanation at the very least. If they were rude and unhelpful that is disgraceful.

On a separate note, I think I can understand your grief about your child being cut/scarred - although it wasn't in any way related to my nightmare birth (which was hideaous and broke several laws, so I rage on your behalf and mine), my ds1 has a prominent and disfiguring birthmark on his face, so I know how griefstricken/sad/scared/angry it feels to be at the very start of a child's life with a disadvantage already in place. I don't feel like that now, an my ds2's personality has competely taken over from the mark on his face, but I remember the utter desperation and rage I felt early on, when he was just a little baby with a bloody great red mark on his face.

I have rambled a bit there, sorry, but your OP touches me.

Please, be gentle with yourself. The statute of limitations on these things is quite long, so you have no hurry. Get yourself physically and mentally back on an even keel before you think about taking these people on.

Keep posting. (((((((((hug)))))))))

try this thread for starters...

sory for typos they are typos rather than misspellings!!

Sorry,on reflection that thread not ideal, but read through the threads started in childbirth section.

I'm so so sorry that you had such an awful experience and have been through so much.

I think you were fantastically strong to write and raise these things.

Give yourself time, as Greensleeves said, to think about what you want to do, don't feel hassled into responding. What is your GP like? Perhaps you could ask for a double appointment and go through it all with them and get their opinion....they may also refer you for some counselling to help you cope with what happened to you, if you feel you would want that.

I do hope your little ds is bringing you lots of joy. x

NMB

I can really sympathise I had an difficult and distressing birth adn I can only say that it does get easier but you do need to get support. My HV was fantastic and your Gp can provide support an advice too.

I aslo know that you do not have to put up with poor responses to a complaint to the NHS and can contact the healthcare commission. They have their own website. You may also want to contact your local primary care trust (if you are i England) adn write to the Chief Executive. The PCT have aresponsibility to ensure thatt he services provided at hospitals (which the PCT funds) are of a high standard

Hope this helps

Melanie

hi, thanks for all this from you all i have mentioned to my hv but she was non committal and said to concentrate on the baby. my mw who followed up discharged me early much to hv disgust. My gp is nice but says its up to me and doesn;t want to get involved. she did say to complain, but it would be v stressful.

i been given a list of medical negligence lawyers and am calling them today. I'm going to call birth trauma as well as i want another baby and the thought of being in hospital -any hospital- really distresses me.

nightmarebirth - I am really sorry to hear about your experience. I'm a lawyer but not a medical negligence lawyer so for a full answer you need to take advice from a specialist as you're doing.

If you're thinking about legal action then I think you need to be very clear about what you want from it. Most people in this kind of situation really want to hold the hospital/medical staff to account and to have some kind of official decision that what happened was wrong. Sometimes receiving financial damages is also important e.g. because the child has been disabled and the money is needed to pay for care etc. In your case I guess that you want the former. If that's the case I'd suggest that you think very carefully about going down the legal route. It can be very long and drawn out (and potentially expensive depending on your financial position/insurance) and that can prolong the stress by forcing you to keep the issue alive in your mind. The other suggestions on here about seeking answers may be a better starting point than legal action.

If you do want to go to court you'll essentially need to prove (1) what the Dr/mw did was not supported by a responsbile body of medical opinion (i.e. showing that another Dr would have done something different is not enough - it has to be outside of legitimate medical disagreement). You'd then have to show that (2) it was this fault that caused the injury. It can be pretty tough to prove both of these things in medical cases. A lawyer can advise you in more detail but I would look into the other suggestions here too.

Best of luck with looking for answers and hope that you find a good solution to this.

i;d get hold of all your notes before you tell them you are thinking about legal action

have heard of notes 'going missing' once legal action has been threatened or started

the PALS service at the hospital should be able to advise you on getting those

also you should be having a debrief with head of midwifery re the birth and the decisions made .

yes, sometimes babys can be cut during a c.s...didn;t think it was a 2 % chance

i am really very sorry you have had this horrible and frightening experience, and that it has given you such emotional trauma

FWIW you do not have to have subsequent children at this hospital

Very sad that your baby got cut, but it is always a possibility. Poor mite
The rest of it tbh you sound like a bit of a nightmare. MWs are not there to help you shower or to be atyour beck and call. i dont believe that you are painting the whole story here, would you tell the truth if you took it further?
i dont expect you to reply as this wont be what you want to hear but i really think you shouls think of it all rationally and honestly.
Not many have a perfect birthing experience but get over it, you have your baby and your both fine.

cheechy

the midwives are there to assist women

especially those who have had caesarean...and might be suffering after effects of major surgery and blood loss

why should the midwife refuse to empty her catheter bag and take out a canula or take a baby when the mother says not to, when the mother is bed bound

it is not over the top to expect some respect and some assistance

and cheechy - her baby could be scarred for life.

the 'get over it' attitude does not help women suffering after a traumatic birth ..needing to talk about it and relive it and get some answers is part of the healing process

if you were lucky enough to have fantastic births and care afterwards, that is marvellous, but please don;t be so quick to discount the stories of those who have not had it so good

Well I complained. There's enough legal nous in my family to know not to pursue any kind of case but I did want to make sure the same thing didn't happen again, so I complained.

I got a copy of my notes (two entries deliberately falsified, complained about that too) went and had a meeting with the team, complained to the trust, went back for another meeting with the team. Blah blah blah.

The whole process was a bloody nightmare which went on for months. But I got what I wanted, which is a firm commitment from the powers that be (nb actually difficult to establish who those are in the first place) exactly what would happen the next time around.

my ds1 was severely brain damaged (undiagnosed breach, emergency cs) due to negligence & I got as far as getting legal aid on his behalf then decided not to take it any further as the stress of it all was too much, so didn't actually sue.

Also, all they could have done was give me money, and it wasn't money I wanted, it was the child he would have been if he wasn't blind,spastic quadriplegia etc etc.

Think carefully before you go down this route. The mw care a t both my ds's births was appalling, left in agony with no drip for fluids for 2.5 hours, etc etc.

You should try a different hospital next time. Good luck.

thanks for all the help and advice i have received on this, esp lulumama, thanks for the links, i'm going to call them. its given me loads to think about should i pursue the the case. I don;t want extra stress at the minute, and it does depend what i want out of it. btw, they seem to have "lost" my medical notes, so can see the whole thing will be a great strain.

I really feel for those of you who have also had a traumatic time, terrible aftercare and/or injured children.

wow cheechy, that was nasty. Telling someone they are not telling the truth about their own, traumatic birth. And I agree with lulu, the midwives are there to help women in situations like the shower and loo - I had to try to shake mine off who insisted they accompany me. After such major surgery there are real risks to women, all sorts of things can happen including dizziness and fainting, which could obviously be very dangerous.

I really am shocked at what you posted.

but I'm glad the other posts helped, NB. I really hope you can feel stronger every day.

Sorry I have only skimmed the thread so someone may have already said this

If I remember correctly you have 6mths in which to complain but you can write a letter basically saying you will be complaining but are not well enough to do so yet - just in case you don't want to deal with it right now

I complained following the birth of my first child - generally rubbish care but not as bad as your experience

Their response was pretty poor - my MW was agency and they hadn't managed to contact her for her side of the story
However I did feel better for complaining and unless people complain they won't improve the service

Have you formally requested your notes?