£250,000 settlement for a first-time mother following negligent surgery to repair a 4th degree tear

Ben Ward, a medical negligence specialist Partner at Ashtons Legal, has obtained a £250,000 settlement for Ms T, a woman in her 20s, who suffered serious complications from negligent surgery following the delivery of her first child.

Ms T suffered a large tear in her perineum during childbirth which was repaired by a consultant obstetrician at her local hospital. However, within a matter of days, Ms T started to notice that when she opened her bowels, she also suffered faecal leakage from her vagina and it became apparent that the repair had been inadequate and she had developed a fistula.

It took some time for her to be assessed and referred for further repair surgery and, when this was undertaken, it was still not entirely successful.

Ms T is now under the care of specialists at another hospital who are intending to perform a more complex operation to rectify the issues but with the added complication that this cannot be done until she has lost weight.

Ben comments: “Ms T has had to endure very unpleasant side-effects of this error for several years and still needs to undergo a further operation in an attempt to repair the fistula. She suffered an extensive tear of 4cm damaging both her internal and external sphincter muscles and continues to have to self-irrigate to help avoid faeces leaking from her vagina. All of this could have been avoided if the initial surgery post-childbirth had been done to a reasonable standard.”

He adds: “Although the hospital Trust contested the claim up to the dawn of trial (and never actually admitted liability), the evolving evidence appeared to indicate to me that the obstetrician who performed the repair did not have the adequate skill and experience to do so. Although Ms T was incredibly stoical about her injuries, she could not escape the feelings of insecurity and anxiety they caused. I hope that with this compensation, she can now get support to lose the weight required and undergo a successful second attempt to repair the fistula and the awful side effects she has had to endure.”

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