Botched termination-urgent help!

singlehouseholder

Oh my god, that is awful, sure the consent form would have some sort of stipulation somewhere about it not being 100%, cant understand how she would be given the pessary and suction, usually its one or the other? ....What is she going to do now?I don't think suing is going to help anyones situation either...

funky-footprints

i agree in some of the other posters in that i dont see what suing a hopital can achieve ? or is this now all about money ?

If she didnt want the baby, then at 14 weeks she can have another abortion ?

Im sorry for your friend, it must be a terrrible traumatic time for her, but it angers me when sueing the nhs which is already crippled keeps get bought up time and time again.
I hope she is strong enough get through this without to much more pain.
xx

r.mac_2

I feel very sad for your friend. She is lucky to have a concerned friend to help her through this awful time.

The legal position on medical negligence is very complicated. There is case law which rules that certain risks need to be communicated to the patient (these are normally based upon %). There is also case law which demonstrates that the courts view this situation as one where there is no 'loss', in that she is still pregnant. The court views terminations quite conservatively. I am a scottish trainee, so can't vouch for english law, which differs (although not too much in this area).

The important thing is that your friend takes time to settle her emotions and deal with her current sitution. When she is ready, I would strongly suggest consulting a solicitor. Most solicitors will provide a free first consultation which will be enough to establish if there are basic grounds.

Alternatively, Perhaps a strongly worded letter asking for an apology from the hospital would satisfy what your friend is looking for. (Although note that this may come stating that there is no admission of guilt - this is them just covering themselves legally.)

I hope this may help and wish your friend all the very best of luck with her future.

Lillibet_2

I must confess, if it was me in this situation, I would want answers & if the consent form had any holes in it I would sue. At the very least the instuition owes the woman an investigation & some answers & she could also make a complaint to the GMC about the Doctors attitude. I can totally understand why she is considering sue-ing, it isn't necessarily about the money but about wanting someone to be made responsible (whether it be the Dr or the system) after trusitng them in this situation. And unfortunatley the hardest way to hit someone is usually in the wallet so it usually works, all be it at the expense of others.
As a direct result of this problem she has decided to keep the child she would otherwise have terminated. Whislt getting pregnant may have been her responsibilty in the first place she had made a reasoned & responsible decision & trusted it to others. As a result of the failure of the procedure (which may possibly be due to errors or malpractice or may be due to the hand of fate) she has revised her decision. This will impact on her & her child for the rest of their lives, not the Dr.
She may like to take a step back & think about this for a while, her life is going to get so much more complicated with another child that in a couple of months she might have a change of heart, but I would at least get the ball rolling on an investigation in the mean time. But say the child is born with health problems as a (possible) result of this. Who is going to prioritise & fight for the the childs treatment & welfare then? The NHS or the parent? I think she deserves much more than being brushed off with a statistic at this stage.

r.mac_2

Lillibet wrote:

I must confess, if it was me in this situation, I would want answers & if the consent form had any holes in it I would sue. At the very least the instuition owes the woman an investigation & some answers & she could also make a complaint to the GMC about the Doctors attitude. I can totally understand why she is considering sue-ing, it isn't necessarily about the money but about wanting someone to be made responsible (whether it be the Dr or the system) after trusitng them in this situation. And unfortunatley the hardest way to hit someone is usually in the wallet so it usually works, all be it at the expense of others.
As a direct result of this problem she has decided to keep the child she would otherwise have terminated. Whislt getting pregnant may have been her responsibilty in the first place she had made a reasoned & responsible decision & trusted it to others. As a result of the failure of the procedure (which may possibly be due to errors or malpractice or may be due to the hand of fate) she has revised her decision. This will impact on her & her child for the rest of their lives, not the Dr.
She may like to take a step back & think about this for a while, her life is going to get so much more complicated with another child that in a couple of months she might have a change of heart, but I would at least get the ball rolling on an investigation in the mean time. But say the child is born with health problems as a (possible) result of this. Who is going to prioritise & fight for the the childs treatment & welfare then? The NHS or the parent? I think she deserves much more than being brushed off with a statistic at this stage.

Lillibet - good point

for info, if the child was injured by medical negligence (negligence would have to be by the doctor who performed the termination) then the lady would be entitled to costs of medical care of the child (but probably not general living costs).

rainbowrisin

(((((hugs))))) to your friend - what a complete nightmare. I think there are a number of issues here, some of which are more pressing than others. I don't think sueing the hospital, or even beginning the complaint process is a priority. It won't change what has happened and the whole process is so protracted that any feeling of "closure" caused by proving that the Dr was negligent or otherwise will be years away, and not desperately helpful in terms of moving forward.
I think she needs to think through very, very hard about whether she wants to continue with the pregnancy. I would think she thought very hard before deciding the termination was the best course of action in the first place (women don't make these decisions lightly, generally). Despite her ordeal at the hospital the original reasons for her decision still stand, and I think she needs to really consider whether a now (understandable) reluctance to have anymore medical intervention is a strong enough reason to continue with the pregnancy. It is highly unlikely that the rest of the pregnancy, the labour and birth and post-natal care can be achieved with no medical intervention whatsoever, so although the procedures will be different, the need to re-establish trust in medical care is still crucial.

I would suggest she visits her GP and asks for a referral to a psychologist as a priority case to try and get some help in coming to terms with the emotional side of the issue, as well as asking what additional support is available from the NHS to enable her to re-gain confidence in them.
I would also suggest she asks to see a consultant (probably a paediatrician, but her GP would know) who could advise her on what the potential complications of the antibiotics on the baby might be, how common the complications are, what implications they will have on the baby and so on. Are there any tests which can be done at this stage to assess how likely it is that baby is damaged?
She still has time to have a termination if it is the right course of action for her (under certain circumstances, terminations can be performed after 24 weeks, although the process is not particularly pleasant).
Is she accessing any support for her and the child(ren) she already has? It sounds as if she already has quite a lot on her plate, and I would hope that she is in contact with the HV, social services if appropriate, homestart or other agencies which could provide support to her and the family.
Wishing her all the best.

1jim

rainbowrisin wrote:

(((((hugs))))) to your friend - what a complete nightmare. I think there are a number of issues here, some of which are more pressing than others. I don't think sueing the hospital, or even beginning the complaint process is a priority. It won't change what has happened and the whole process is so protracted that any feeling of "closure" caused by proving that the Dr was negligent or otherwise will be years away, and not desperately helpful in terms of moving forward.
I think she needs to think through very, very hard about whether she wants to continue with the pregnancy. I would think she thought very hard before deciding the termination was the best course of action in the first place (women don't make these decisions lightly, generally). Despite her ordeal at the hospital the original reasons for her decision still stand, and I think she needs to really consider whether a now (understandable) reluctance to have anymore medical intervention is a strong enough reason to continue with the pregnancy. It is highly unlikely that the rest of the pregnancy, the labour and birth and post-natal care can be achieved with no medical intervention whatsoever, so although the procedures will be different, the need to re-establish trust in medical care is still crucial.

I would suggest she visits her GP and asks for a referral to a psychologist as a priority case to try and get some help in coming to terms with the emotional side of the issue, as well as asking what additional support is available from the NHS to enable her to re-gain confidence in them.
I would also suggest she asks to see a consultant (probably a paediatrician, but her GP would know) who could advise her on what the potential complications of the antibiotics on the baby might be, how common the complications are, what implications they will have on the baby and so on. Are there any tests which can be done at this stage to assess how likely it is that baby is damaged?
She still has time to have a termination if it is the right course of action for her (under certain circumstances, terminations can be performed after 24 weeks, although the process is not particularly pleasant).
Is she accessing any support for her and the child(ren) she already has? It sounds as if she already has quite a lot on her plate, and I would hope that she is in contact with the HV, social services if appropriate, homestart or other agencies which could provide support to her and the family.
Wishing her all the best.

I would entirely agree with this post......
I really dont think suing is a priority at this point, there has been nothing to suggest negligence, only a failed procedure that unfortunatly does happen from time to time, its sometimes hard to remember that Medicine is not an exact science and that at times things go wrong, sometimes because of mistakes but a lot of the time its just "because", there are risks with all procedures and they are usually explained, u nfortunatly these are often exlplained at an emotional time and thus we are less likly to be able to recall the full explanation we were given. Remember to sue you have to meat the Bolem test, in brief harm must have occured and that the dr must have done something wrong ie something that a reasonable peer would not have done, so if no harm has been done and the dr followed the standard treatment/procedure then no negligence exists (simplified obviously and these points are always open to interprtation)
The main thing is to stop ,,,,,, and to think about what to do now. Your friend does still have a choice on how to proceed, she still has time to have a termination or to procede with the pregnancy. She needs to take time to think of all the pros and cons of these decisions and not jump to her decision as a knee jerk reaction to what has already happened
I think she needs to see her GP or family planning clinic (if they referred her for terminantion) and aks to be referred to a counsellor specialising in this type of thing.
Hope shes ok and things turn out well for her no matter what she decides

jellyhead

*HUGS*

her hormones must be all over the place at the moment - what a difficult situation to face especially if her other half has gone.

i realise i am in the minority but i think a complaint might help. she feels she was brushed off and treated badly - a complaint might mean the doctor in question is advised on bed manner to prevent another woman being upset by her. and if she was not advised about failure rates then this needs to be addressed.

i have not had a termination so i know nothing about how success is ascertained but i had my mirena coil inserted this year after a miscarriage and i was given information but also told face to face by the doctor about the small chance of it falling out. this is probably not an issue but i did not have the mirena immediately after miscarriage, i waited until my period 5 weeks later. this was more to do with not knowing if we would decide to try for another baby but the doctor i spoke to after the miscarriage advised that my cervix might not close well enough for a mirena straight away.

i think if the risk of the mirena falling out was not explained then it should have been, especially during a time when (too much information alert!) lots of very large clots and lumps are coming out which might disguise the coil.

suzysue_2

Give my love to your friend. I hope she soon comes to term with her situation and of course ultimately excepts that no matter what, this life was simply ment to be.
Suzy XXX

Tran

Okay, keeping it totally on fact and not getting into emotions or passing judgement...

At 14 weeks she could still have an abortion if her decision is the same (for whatever reasons). At 14 weeks she would have to have a proceedure done and not just take tablets.

I have been with a friend who had an abortion done about 5 years ago. Unless things have changed recently, at the time you go for an abortion you are told that many abortions do fail and that this is pointed out to women. After an abortion she should be given a list of things that indicate a failed abortion has taken place. if this happens she has to go back.