Birth From Hell Results In Ptsd Can I Sue ?????????

[col123]

Is it possible to sue the hospital,my baby was born 14 months ago,i have still never got over it it was horrifying,i have since been diagnosed with ptsd for which im recieving treatment,basically i was induced,2 days later my cervix still wouldnt open yet i suffered the contractions and pains,my waters were forcibly broke, they eventually got a monitor on the babies head,i had an epidural which left me unable to move from the waist down but i still felt the pain,the midwife left for refreshments so another midwife took over,shortly after she called somone to give thier view of the babies heart monitor,which was going down and down and down,i was screaming at anyone to explain what was happening but i might as well have tot been there,eventually there were 12 staff in the tiny room with me and my partner the registra was called in to help,everyone was just buzzing about,i begged for a c section but was ignored,when my babies heart rate was ???????? basically flatlined, they tore him from my body with forceps a midwife and my partner were told to hold me down this is a long story made short and has been very difficult for me to write even this little bit,after all this time. My baby survived thankfully but he was trapped inside me because the cord was twice wrapped round his neck his torso and his wrist, I always think if they had just scanned me could they have seen the danger ?? My life nor my families have ever been the same since,I relive the horror everyday via flashbacks,i am on medication and see a therapist and i do feel on the mend,but i know ill never be the same person i was before and all because of this experience,I had a birth plan that was totally ignored can they get away with what they did ???

 

sorry its so long its the most ive ever gone into it before,and for the record this was my 4th birth all the other 3 births were fine,just this last was like something from a horror film thanks for looking,col123 x

[ErikaPNP]

Ok. I will try to answer, I will first pre warn you that some of what I am about to say will come across uncaring - I do not mean it to sound that way, just stating the facts of what you can and can't follow up so you have an idea of where you stand, and how the hospital may defend any claim. I myself had a traumatic birth with my second child so I do know how it feels to be through an experience which traumatises you. Before I go any further, I will post up this link where you may find support from: Birth Trauma Association

 

I don't know whether you could sue them for the lack of progression with the labour as they cannot force your body to progress if it does not react to the induction. The midwives leaving for their breaks cannot be used as they are as entitled to the next person to take a break, and mistakes and poor practice can result if a staff medic is tired. You never should have at any point been ignored, an explanation of what was happening should have been given, unless this was likely to cause further problems. As for the C-section, if the baby's heart rate was dramatically falling, a section could present an even greater risk to the baby and possibly to you.

 

Also there may not have been time for one, they would have needed the anaestheatist (sp), the appropriate staff, they would need to all scrub up, prepare you and administer the anaesthetic. In the time it would have taken to do that, there may have been a risk also.

 

A scan may not have revealed much at all, depending on the baby's position, and there most probably would not have been a sonographer available to perform the scan, or again, time may have been a factor. If they had scanned you when you were in labour (early or established) everything may well have appeared fine. A cord can wrap at any time. My DD's head appeared, the midwife felt for cord around neck, nothing there. Yet when I took some gas and air, I sucked her head back in and when that happened, the cord wrapped around her neck. Women are not routinely scanned immediatly prior to or during labour.

 

A birth plan can only be followed providing it brings no immediate risk to your health and the hospital attendants are happy to follow it. A midwife has the right to change anything if it stands in they way of preventing danger.

 

My advice would be to obtain your notes regarding the labour and delivery and take it from there. You can ask to meet with a doctor or midwife to look over the notes with, this will give you an opportunity to ask any questions you may have and it will also be useful for the "translation" of medical terminology that will be present in the notes. Unless you can prove they were negligent or performed in any way which presented a risk to you or your baby, there won't be a case. You won't be able to move forward with any case until you have seen your notes and raised questions about why certain procedures or policies weren't adhered to.

[Bookworm]

Honey, what you went through is pretty much what I had with all 3 of my kids one way or another. No1 - forceps, cord around neck, heartrate dropping, no time for any kind of anaesthesia, stitches. No2 - forceps, BIG baby, heartrate falling, stitches, pethidine useless. No3 - induced, no go, epidural failed, falling heartrate, forceps, stitches, left on my own with peridural legs, fell on the floor due to that... You name it. Birth plan? After the 1st one was ignored, I didn't bother ever again.

 

The question is: Even if you could sue them, and tbh, I'm not sure you can, and Erika's post is pretty much spot on from my (patient) point of view, that wouldn't make you better or recover faster, would it? So what is it that you are trying to achieve? Closure?

[miziwizzi]

I agree with both posts above, births are different form one to another, I have had 4, 2 of which were quite dramatic! however feel blessed just to have healthy happy babies.

 

It really is in my oppinion that sueing the NHS should only be the case if you require long term care to carry out daily chores etc.

 

Sueing and removing funds from our services only adds to the financial strain that may have actually contributed to your problems in the first place, in addition any claims are not easy processes.

 

Good luck in whatever decision you make xx

[mina2974]

Hi

 

I wanted to take action against my nhs hospital after mistake's made during the birth of my last child (no. 5), Like you it took over a year to get to that point,

 

there is a 3 year limit to take action and as medical negligence cases are so complicated you may find that you have left it too late to be able to put a case in.

 

I chose to write to the hospital and explain what I felt went wrong instead, I know from a midwife friend that letters like these are taken seriously even if you don't get told anything. It did help just to know that I had told them how they had made me feel.

 

On a good note it does get better, after a while you do feel less angry and can concentrate on the positive side of life again:)

 

Most of all it does help to talk about what happened and let it all out of your system, try and think of an alternative way that could help you draw a line under what happened so you can move on.

 

Good Luck, am happy to listen if you need to talk

 

Sam

[col123]

many thanks for the posts,to be honest yes bookworm I think it is closure im looking for, I just wish it would go away, i suffered enough that day i just want it to stop haunting me now,ill just keep on my treatment and hope things get better,thanks again everyone,and seeing its december i can wish my first merry christmases of the year x x x

[Bookworm]

I think that's the best thing, tbh. If you start a lengthy legal battle, it will take a lot of time, energy and money with no guarantee you will win, and it can take over your life... I think you'd be better off getting on with your life, enjoy the fact that you have a little one to hold and love and get better. It can take time, I know. That's why there is a nearly 6 years gap between my 1st two, it took me that long to even contemplate the idea of having another child, but the memories and shock will fade.

 

I'm not a christmassy kind of person, but thank you for your wishes all the same and hope this will be a good one for you, and don't forget that you are not supposed to do it all on your own! ;-)

[vikki75]

I had the same kind of thing happen to me with my 3rd child. The hospital didnt belive I was in labour and left me on the ward in agony for 5 hrs. It was only when I told my hubby that I thought my waters had gone and he looked and saw that I was bleeding heavily that they took notice and by that time I was 6cms. They rushed me into a labour room that was still dirty and had the previous ladies placenta still on the bed!. The midwife cleaned that up, got me on the bad and 5 mins later my son was born. He had the cord round his neck twice and wasnt breathing. I passed out during this time and woke up to the midwife ripping my placenta from me as they were busy and didnt have the time to wait for it to come on its own!. I suffered for months after the birth and vowed never to go back to that hospital. A year later I found myself back there with my 2 year old daughter. I told them that I thought she had appendisitis and they told me it was wind and I had to kneed her tummy to push it all out!. They left her for 4 days before they would believe me how serious it was, by this time she was unresponsive,blue and cold. None of these the drs at the hospital noticed. I demanded an x-ray and they did it reluctantly. Next thing I know she is being transferred to Alder hey hospital with a police escort. When we got there the surgeon was waiting and told me she had appendisitis and she had about 40% of survival, they didnt want to operate but they had no choice. 3hrs later my daughter was back in her bed. The surgeon told me that she was amazed how she survived as she had peritonitis for at leat 48hrs. 5 weeks later on xmas eve she came home.

This time it took me 2 years to get over what they did. I know its hard but you will get there. I had to go back into that hospital last year and although the birth was traumatic as I lost so much blood I almost died, the staff I had were fantastic. Sadley it is just luck of the draw if you get a nice one.

 

Vikki x

[zimbob]

ErikaPNP has given a very good, succinct answer and I would strongly advise you to follow the link she provided.

If you still have doubts about your care (but I must say it seems to me that the staff reacted appropriately at the time with the exception of someone reassuring you:-() then I would suggest that you contact the complaints team. As your complaint is of a clinical nature it will possibly be bumped to one of my counterparts to look into and you should receive a reply within 60 days.

I work in Patient Safety for the NHS and part of my role is to investigate serious incidents. We are the people the public seldom see but who do the serious work in the background. Sometimes I get a bit down because when I walk into a department the staff react like they do in a TV cop show when internal affairs arrive! We are impartial and admit when there are lessons to be learned. We also report all our Trusts' misdeeds to the National Patient Safety Agency.

When dealing with the public it is usually through their solicitor, but we do react to direct contact from patients in exactly the same way. No! I lie, with solicitors we have to take their ego into consideration!

[nomny]

hi, i think all us mums will have at least 1 or 2 horror stories about birth, my worst was my 5th, midwife said i wasnt in labour, fire bell went and we all got evacuated to the middle of the car park ,in all the comotion i was on the car park floor screaming for help as i gave birth to my son, not a midwife in sight just bells ringing and wonderful firemen trying to get help for me, there was absolutely no dignity on my part and this poor young fireman trying to offer me some with his coat was scared half to death, at the time this was the most horrific thing that had happened to me i was also in shock and worried how my son was because this was october and very cold but he and i were fine and 8yrs on i laugh about it, my daughters birth 3 years ago was much worse but again time is a great healer, as you have ptsd i think you should maybe concentrate on getting well first, with all the right help and talking about you experience you will start to move forward ,but this is only my opinion and what i would do, whatever you choose to do good luck

[KarmaAmelia]

I think first of all before you even consider sueing you need to do some very extensive research about the different situations you became a part of. Find out what the complications meant for both you and your baby. Find out what should have been done and what medical documents say about what they DID do.

 

Get together a folder with EVERYTHING in. Also you need to write a formal letter of complaint to the hospital and you need to word it so that you are asking for an investigation and explination of how you were treated.

Sorry if this has already been said, I haven't read all the posts so I do apologise. I didn't want to pass by and not reply, it does sound very traumatic what you wen't through. I hope with time you can find peace.