Sarah Coles, a medical law expert at Irwin Mitchell has helped secure an out of court settlement for a lady who suffered a post operative bleed during a caesarean section.

The claimant, a 27 year old woman, became pregnant with twins in November 2007. This was her second pregnancy, but, feeling uncomfortable, she requested an induction of labour. The induction was postponed several times due to a lack of beds on the maternity ward, but she was finally admitted to York Hospital on 8 July 2008. She gave birth to healthy twins via an emergency caesarean section. After some delay, she was diagnosed with a post operative bleed.

Following her caesarean, whilst in recovery, she began to experience chest pain and found it difficult to breathe and to speak. Steps were taken to exclude pulmonary embolus and anaemia.

She later began to experience unbearable back ache, pain in her abdomen and continued to have difficulty breathing. On examination, she was diagnosed with intra abdominal bleeding and rushed to theatre, whereby approximately 3000ml of blood was drained. A blood transfusion was also needed. She was then transferred to the High Dependency Unit before being finally discharged on 14 July 2008.

Throughout this time, she had been unable to care for her new born twins which she found deeply distressing. She suffered a prolonged recovery and is still reliant on support from both her mother and mother in law. She also suffered trauma and mental anguish as a result of the events.

The Defendant, York Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, admitted that the intra abdominal bleed could have been diagnosed and treated earlier and the blood transfusion avoided. With the help of Sarah Coles from the Clinical Negligence team at Irwin Mitchell solicitors, a successful claim was brought against the Trust and the claimant received £2,500 in compensation.

If you or your child has suffered due to medical negligence during pregnancy or a gynaecological procedure our clinical negligence solicitors could help you to claim compensation. Visit our Pregnancy & Gynaecology Injury Claims page for more information.

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