What is an OASI and When Can I Claim Compensation?
If you are struggling with the shocking symptoms of an OASI due to a failure of diagnosis or repair, you may be able to make a claim for compensation.
What is an OASI?
An OASI is an obstetric anal sphincter injury. This means that it is an injury which sometimes occurs during vaginal childbirth and which causes damage to the muscles around the anus. They are often referred to as a 3rd or 4th degree tear.
Small tears around the vagina are, not surprisingly, common during childbirth. An OASI, on the other hand, is more rare, occurring to only around 5% of women. It is most likely to occur when a woman is giving birth for the first time, if the baby is particularly large or if the woman needs an instrumental delivery such as with forceps. In these scenarios, the pressure around the vagina may cause it to tear and the tear can spread across the perineum and into the anal sphincter.
Anal sphincter injuries vary in severity depending on how far they penetrate through the anal muscles.
When can I claim compensation?
An OASI is not necessarily the product of negligent care, although this may be the case if an instrumental delivery is carried out without a prior episiotomy.
What is particularly important is that, if an OASI has occurred, the new mother should receive an accurate diagnosis and a prompt, skilled and effective repair.
Without diagnosis, a repair will not happen.
Without a correct diagnosis, a repair may only be partial, leaving the woman to continue to suffer distressing and debilitating symptoms of incontinence and urgency.
Maternity professionals may be regarded as negligent if they have failed to carry out an examination, failed to make a correct diagnosis or failed to carry out an effective repair of an OASI.
It should be possible to make a claim for compensation if a failure of diagnosis or repair has left you struggling with symptoms which affect your quality of life. For example you may now be restricted in the type of employment which you can undertake or the hours you can work, causing you to suffer a significant loss of earnings. If this is the case, and it is regarded as being caused by negligent maternity care, such a financial loss would be included in a claim.
Speak to a medical negligence specialist
Glynns is a dedicated medical negligence legal practice with extensive expertise in OASI claims.
Contact us today to talk to a solicitor, free of charge, if you think that you may be in a position to make a claim.
Please call us on 0800 234 3300 (or from a mobile 01275 334030) or complete our Online Enquiry Form.
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