Undiagnosed Rectal Tear Causes Incontinence
The birth of Megan's first child has left her leaking faeces via her vagina after the registrar failed to notice a tear in her rectum.
When Megan went to hospital for the birth of her first child, it was decided to attempt a forceps delivery with an episiotomy as the labour was proving to be slow and difficult.
A registrar attended the birth and carried out the episiotomy, leading to a successful delivery of a healthy baby girl.
After the birth, Megan underwent an examination of her perineum and anus before the registrar undertook a repair of the episiotomy. Megan returned home the following day with her baby daughter.
Unfortunately, however, the registrar had failed to identify that Megan had suffered a buttonhole tear of the rectum during the birth and, therefore, no repair had been carried out.
Consequently, within four days of the birth, Megan began to suffer highly distressing symptoms. She began to pass faeces via the site of her episiotomy.
Megan returned to hospital where she was put on antibiotics and underwent an examination which revealed that, although the internal and external sphincter muscles appeared to be largely intact, there was a hole in the lining of the anal canal which connected with the site of the episiotomy. This is what is known as a rectovaginal fistula, an abnormal connection between the rectum and the vagina which would not normally exist. It is believed that this damage must have occurred during the birth of Megan's daughter.
After further investigations, Megan had to undergo surgery three months later which attempted to repair the damage and close the fistula. Despite some improvement, Megan continued to pass both wind and faeces via her vagina and subsequent surgery has not resolved the situation.
Had Megan's injury been diagnosed at the time of the birth and competently repaired, it is likely that she would have made a good recovery and suffered no long-term symptoms.
In fact, however, Megan's life has been severely impacted by the physical and psychological effects of her unrepaired injury. She continues to suffer urgency when needing to go to the toilet and episodes of incontinence. Both her working life and her social life have been negatively affected. She says that she has lost all faith in the NHS and is concerned about giving birth in the future although she would like another child.
Glynns supported Megan in her claim for compensation for her on-going symptoms and she received over £200,000 in compensation.
(Details which might identify our client have been changed.)
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