Boyes Turner’s maternal injury lawyers have secured a compensation settlement for a woman in her thirties who suffered physical and psychological injuries from negligent repair of a perineal tear.
Our client suffered a severe tear during the vaginal delivery of her fourth child. Following the birth, an obstetrician (childbirth doctor) was called to repair the vaginal injury. The doctor failed to recognise that the tear extended beyond the perineal skin into the muscle and only sutured (stitched) the tear at surface level.
Following the inadequate repair, our client suffered faecal incontinence, sexual dysfunction and pain. She underwent a total of seven remedial procedures. Surgery included the formation of a ‘defunctioning colostomy’ which was reversed after 18 months. Our client suffered a psychological reaction to her physical injury.
Boyes Turner pursued our client’s claim against the defendant hospital, which admitted the obstetrician’s negligent failure to recognise the severity of the tear. When a patient is injured as a result of negligent medical care, they are entitled to compensation for the injury that was caused by the negligence. This aspect of the case is known as causation. The patient cannot claim compensation for any injury that they would have suffered in any event if correct care had been given. In this case, the defendant’s experts were of the opinion that, even if their obstetrician had carried out a proper repair of the severe tear, our client would still have suffered the majority of her ongoing symptoms.
Despite the disagreement over the causation of our client’s injury, we were able to negotiate a settlement of £107,500 for our client. There was no cost to our client in bringing the claim.
If you or a member of your family have suffered from negligent medical care, contact us by email at [email protected]
