Living With a Birth Tear Injury Due to Medical Negligence
If a woman suffers a severe anal injury during the vaginal birth of her baby and does not undergo a comprehensive repair, she may suffer disabling bowel problems for the rest of her life. It may be appropriate to make a claim for compensation.
The shocking impact of a 3rd or 4th degree tear
The ongoing and broader impact of a severe birth tear can be distressing and life changing for the woman, her partner and her family.
- The financial impact can be significant. A woman with incontinence of both wind and faeces may struggle to work full time and may struggle to work at all in a range of types of employment. She may therefore experience a dramatic reduction in her income. Inevitably, this will affect her quality of life, the plans, hopes and dreams of her family, and the ability to manage everyday expenses such as a mortgage and the shopping bill.
- The family may face additional costs if the new mother needs specialist treatment or equipment or alterations to her home to enable easy access to a toilet.
- The psychological impact can be considerable and some women find that they need support with this aspect. Not only coming to terms with the reality of their injury and its symptoms, which may sometimes require a stoma to be fitted, but also feeling unable to engage in many activities and sports and to support their child can create a great sense of loss and grief. Some women feel the distress of their condition so deeply that they struggle to leave their home at all.
The role of compensation
If such an appalling outcome has been caused or contributed to by negligent maternity care, the new mother may be able to claim compensation.
A successful compensation claim should address the consequences of the symptoms caused by the negligence. Where appropriate, this could include any loss of income, both past and future, plus the costs of care and equipment as necessary and insofar as caused by the negligence.
A successful compensation claim can help a woman to recover her quality of life as far as that is possible with her symptoms, and not to struggle with financial losses due to no fault of her own.
Additionally, feeling that the negligence has been acknowledged can help a woman to feel more empowered which may help in coping with her unexpected symptoms.
Get legal advice
If you think you may be entitled to compensation for medical negligence, speak to one of the team at Glynns Solicitors. We have many years' experience in successful birth tear claims and one of our team of solicitors will be very happy to talk to you, free of charge, about your situation.
We can offer No Win No Fee medical negligence funding which we will discuss with you during your free initial telephone discussion.
Please call us on 0800 234 3300 (or from a mobile 01275 334030) or complete our Online Enquiry Form.
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