OASI Compensation for Financial Losses and Care Costs

Negligent medical care of an obstetric anal sphincter injury can cause a new mother to suffer lifelong and disabling symptoms which can utterly undermine her quality of life and her ability to support her new-born child.

A successful claim for compensation will address the impact of that negligence on the new mother’s life.

OASI damage and symptoms

An OASI, triggered by the pressure of a vaginal delivery, tears across the woman’s perineum, between her vagina and anus, and causes damage to the muscles around the anus.

Such damage will reduce, to some extent, a woman’s capacity to control the passing of wind and faeces, meaning that she may experience urgency or incontinence.

At its worst, an OASI can lead to a fistula, or passage, between the anus and the vagina and the need for the fitting of a stoma.

The impact on a woman’s life

Loss of control of bowel function can have a devastating impact on a woman’s life. It can mean, not only having to manage the practical aspects of her symptoms, but for a new mother the impact can also be psychologically damaging.

Practically, she may need to undergo specialist treatment and require special equipment or help to manage her symptoms.

She may require close access to a toilet at all times and feel reluctant to leave the home as a result, for fear of bowel ‘accidents’.

She may struggle to continue with her previous type of employment and may be severely restricted in the type of work which she can do because of the nature of her symptoms as well as the need to manage them.

Claiming compensation for negligence

A woman experiencing such symptoms following the birth of her baby is likely to have an undiagnosed and unrepaired OASI.

Prompt and competent medical care immediately after the birth of a baby is intended to ensure that no woman leaves hospital with an unrepaired 3^rd or 4^th degree tear.

If a failure to examine or a failure to diagnose accurately means that the new mother is left with permanent symptoms, it should be possible to make a claim for the financial losses caused by her symptoms.

Free legal advice

Glynns Solicitors are specialists in medical negligence law with extensive experience of OASI tear claims and a thorough understanding of how difficult it can be to talk about some of the issues involved.

Contact us today to talk to a solicitor, free of charge, about the possibility of making a claim to help you address the difficulties which you are now facing.

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 free on 0800 234 3300 (or from a mobile 01275 334030) or complete our Online Enquiry Form.

Start a free enquiry Call free: 0800 234 3300