Negligent Birth Tear Symptoms
On-going bowel symptoms may be a sign that the new mother has suffered poor quality care of perineal trauma during the birth of her baby. It may be appropriate to consider making a claim for compensation.
Birth tears
It is not uncommon for a woman to experience some bowel problems after giving birth vaginally. The pelvic floor can be weakened by childbirth and the woman may suffer a perineal tear.
Any symptoms should normally clear up, however, and significant long-term problems, especially incontinence, are not normal.
Even if the woman has suffered a perineal tear, this should have been diagnosed and repaired at the time of the birth, allowing the woman's body to recover and for any symptoms to cease over time.
Perineal tear symptoms
If a woman continues to suffer severe and debilitating symptoms months after the birth of her baby, it is possible that she has either received a poor quality repair of any perineal or anal injury, or that her injury has not been diagnosed or repaired at all.
Symptoms which might suggest that a woman's childbirth tear has not been competently and effectively cared for could include the following:
- Extreme urgency when needing to go to the toilet
- Loss of ability to control the passing of wind
- Loss of ability to control the passing of faeces
- Perineal infections
- Leakage of wind or faeces from the vagina
Negligent care of birth tears
Women who have given birth through the vagina need to undergo a thorough examination of the perineum following the birth. The purpose of this is to identify any damage to the perineum and, if relevant, the anus. If a woman does not receive a competent examination, it is possible that any injury may be missed or misdiagnosed. This could lead to a failure of any injury to be repaired.
It is also possible that a perineal injury may be accurately diagnosed but the quality of the surgical repair may not be sufficient to resolve the symptoms. Repair of an anal sphincter injury which has damaged the muscles controlling the bowel requires the attention of a skilled surgeon. Without this, the repair may be inadequate, it may break down and the woman may experience bowel incontinence as a result.
Either of these scenarios may be considered as negligent and the woman affected by such debilitating symptoms may be entitled to make a claim for compensation.
Speak to a solicitor
Here at Glynns we have supported numerous women in making highly-successful claims for poor quality care of perineal trauma. If you think you may be the victim of negligence perineal care, contact us today to talk to a specialist medical negligence solicitor.
Please call us on 0800 234 3300 (or from a mobile 01275 334030) or complete our Online Enquiry Form.
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