My C-section went wrong..advice needed please

sunshines

Midwives are generally good in dealing with uncomplicated normal vaginal deliveries. They do not always have the knowledge of reinforced stitches etc. You need to do two things immediately - contact PALS asap, you tend to forget the details of what happened with each passing day; before going over things with them, write it all down, it becomes clearer to you and you will communicate this better when it matters. Secondly, apply to get a copy of your medical notes - it costs 10 pounds. This will tell you whether or not you were treated for pneumonia, if so what the evidence was, and whether anything has been said about the stitches being removed on the wrond day and so on. This is very important, as people can alter the entries - so do it asap.

After you have a copy of your medical notes, write to the consultant who was on charge on that day, and complain explaining every detail and what you are not happy with, copying it to the chief executive of the NHS trust. You need to start here before you go do anything else. Once you have complained to through PALS and written to the consultant plus chief executive, it will become clearer, if something has gone wrong and if so where. Hope this helps.

If you have any further queries pm me.

lynn44

sunshines wrote: »

Midwives are generally good in dealing with uncomplicated normal vaginal deliveries. They do not always have the knowledge of reinforced stitches etc. You need to do two things immediately - contact PALS asap, you tend to forget the details of what happened with each passing day; before going over things with them, write it all down, it becomes clearer to you and you will communicate this better when it matters. Secondly, apply to get a copy of your medical notes - it costs 10 pounds. This will tell you whether or not you were treated for pneumonia, if so what the evidence was, and whether anything has been said about the stitches being removed on the wrond day and so on. This is very important, as people can alter the entries - so do it asap.

After you have a copy of your medical notes, write to the consultant who was on charge on that day, and complain explaining every detail and what you are not happy with, copying it to the chief executive of the NHS trust. You need to start here before you go do anything else. Once you have complained to through PALS and written to the consultant plus chief executive, it will become clearer, if something has gone wrong and if so where. Hope this helps.

If you have any further queries pm me.

Thanks sunshine
where do I get my medical notes from Dr, Hospital or ante natal/post ward ?
Thanking you

onewingedangel

Sorry i do not have any advice, but just had to say how brave you are. That must have been awful for you. I hope you aren't too traumatised by all this and that you and your baby are alright.xx

OrkneyStar

I do hope you get this sorted out OP, but more importantly STOP SMOKING! There is no excuse for a pregnant woman to smoke in this day and age and I won't apologise for telling you this!

thatgirlsam

sorry to hear you had a horrible experience .
--
c-sections are high risk and even more so if you are a smoker
--
i am shocked that your wound was oozing and you were still discharged ... had a pressure dressing been put on it?
-
-are you sure about the stitches being left in for 10 days , this is very unusual because there is a risk that your wound could start to heal over them ... what kind of stitch did they use?
-the continuos one with the bead at the end or the staples ?--

-i had a section 4 years ago .. my wound did not heal so instead of removing the staples on day 5 they did it on day 7 .. my wound burst open because i had MRSA in it ... did they swab you for MRSA?-

-also regarding your notes i doubt you will be allowed a copy of them but you will be able to make an appointment for someone to discuss what is in them with you -

-i would talk to PALS about what has happened here

-

tiamai_d

lynn44 wrote: »

Thanks sunshine
where do I get my medical notes from Dr, Hospital or ante natal/post ward ?
Thanking you

Call PALS who will give you the address to write to and request a copy of your notes (they can charge upto £10 for this), once you have them, write a letter to PALS asking for answers, be very specific, list individual questions and that way they have no option but to answer them. Once you get a reply, you can then arrange a meeting with the consultant who 'cared' for you at that time to further discuss. Then you can think about going down the legal route if you wish.

(all that was correct 3 years ago for me)

Very best of luck, hope you recover (emotionally as well as physically) soon. There is a website called Birth Trauma UK that I found very usefull when I was going through this process.

http://www.birthtraumaassociation.org.uk/

aliasojo

djtonyb wrote: »

I wasn't commenting on wether the OP should give up smoking or not I was making a point that it happened to me and smoking was not an issue in my wound opening

My comment wasn't aimed at you djtonyb. Sorry if I gave that impression.

Wolfsbayne

You don't need to see your notes before speaking with PALS although you might want to see them for yourself anyway.

First, speak to PALS on the phone and find out what the exact procedure is for your hospital. PALS staff are completely impartial and experienced in this kind of thing so they are good to talk to for immediate advice.

They will advise you to write a letter with everything in it that you remember (im pretty sure your partner can write his own too) and they will forward this to the concerned department with a request for a report on what happened. I think they have to produce this report within 28 days (may be less). Usually, PALS will try and arrange a meeting with you, a PALS representative and the staff concerned so you can ask questions and hopefully get the answers you need (and an apology). I'm not sure what happens after this point.

This may be a bit different to your hospital but is generally what happens.

btw - everyone is entitled to see their notes (at a cost) but you are not allowed to take them out of the room or photocopy them (I think you can make handwritten notes though). However, going down a legal route if it could be classed as evidence then your legal team would be given a copy of the notes relevant to that incident.

LondonDiva

Do not contact the consultant for records as that has nothing to do with them - contact the medical records department or PALS who can liase/ direct the request to the right place for you. Records can cost up to £50 for electronic and paper records.

If you go through PALS, this is the informal route. If you are going to be writing a very detailed letter and asking for a detailed response in return, this is a complaint and you will need to contact the complaints manager.

DO NOT write to the consultant, write to the complaints manager as they will be responsible for pulling the answers together and making sure all the questions are actually answered.

Either way, I would get on with contacting them wiht your concerns today or tomorrow so that they can start to look into it for you.

www.nhs.uk will have details of your local trust and the contact details of PALS and the complaints service.

lynn44

thatgirlsam wrote: »

sorry to hear you had a horrible experience .
--
c-sections are high risk and even more so if you are a smoker
--
i am shocked that your wound was oozing and you were still discharged ... had a pressure dressing been put on it?
-
-are you sure about the stitches being left in for 10 days , this is very unusual because there is a risk that your wound could start to heal over them ... what kind of stitch did they use?
-the continuos one with the bead at the end or the staples ?--

-i had a section 4 years ago .. my wound did not heal so instead of removing the staples on day 5 they did it on day 7 .. my wound burst open because i had MRSA in it ... did they swab you for MRSA?-

-also regarding your notes i doubt you will be allowed a copy of them but you will be able to make an appointment for someone to discuss what is in them with you -

-i would talk to PALS about what has happened here

-

Thanks for your reply.
It was 100% confirmed by Anaesthetist that stitches would stay in for 10 days because of my medical condition.
This is what my sister was concerned about me being discharged because of the sheer volume of fluid I was losing while still in hospital...
They only put extra pressure pad/plaster on after second op..
Yes on the 3 times I was admitted to hospital I was swabbed everytime.

The registar had said it could be down to being given to many anti biotics, I did leave hospital with a WHOLE BAG full....

I had the stitches with the beads at each end...
Now I look like I have been half eaten by a great white :eek: