Our client, Miss X, a 23 year old woman, experienced a post-partum haemorrhage following the birth of her second child at the William Harvey Hospital, Ashford. Following a vaginal delivery, Miss X had a retained placenta with ongoing bleeding, and it was decided that she should be transferred to theatre for a manual removal of placenta. The procedure was delayed for almost 2 hours, during which Miss X lost an estimated 2.5 litres of blood, requiring a blood transfusion.
Our expert evidence suggested that Miss X should have had the procedure within one hour of delivery and if this had happened, her blood loss would have halved and she would not have required a blood transfusion.
Miss X commented that she felt shocked that she had been left by the Trust losing blood for almost 2 hours while waiting to go to theatre. She felt let down and that her trust had been broken in the medical profession. The events that followed the delivery of her second child made her extremely scared to have any more children. Prior to this, she had planned to have a bigger family but now she is extremely anxious that something could go wrong should she have another child.
Miss X was diagnosed with a Specific Phobic Anxiety by our expert psychiatrist. Expert evidence suggested that this was directly caused by her experience and her understanding of the risks caused by the delay and the extended length of time she was left losing blood. Expert evidence also confirmed that Miss X’s view on future pregnancies was unlikely to change and therefore, a claim was made for secondary infertility as it was not psychologically possible for her to have another child.
The Trust accepted that the manual removal of placenta should have taken place within one hour of delivery, and had this happened, the blood transfusion would have been avoided.
Following the disclosure of expert reports, a settlement of £50,000 was agreed on behalf of Miss X.