C attended hospital complaining of severe right-sided abdominal pain. She was discharged with pain relief but no plan for follow-up. That evening, a nurse telephoned C at home and told her to collect iron tablets from the hospital the next day.
£35,350 for a 42-year-old Woman for the Failure of a Hospital of the Defendant Trust to Diagnose, Treat and Manage Her Ectopic Pregnancy in February 2005, Resulting in Her Suffering From Adhesions, Uterine Perforation and a Reduction in Fertility
Eleven days later, C saw her GP who suspected an ectopic pregnancy and immediately referred her to hospital. C had two days in hospital but was then discharged, again without any follow up arranged and no scan had been undertaken which should have revealed the ectopic pregnancy.
Two days after being discharged from hospital, C was re-admitted to hospital and underwent an emergency laparotomy and salpingectomy (removal of fallopian tube). She suffered a uterine perforation (punctured womb) during the procedure.
C brought a claim alleging that the Hospital Trust had been negligent in failing to admit her to hospital on the first and second visits; failing to administer C with an Anti-D injection within the required 72-hour period as C was rhesus negative and her husband was rhesus positive.
Liability was thankfully admitted.
C had suffered nearly two weeks of unnecessary pain and suffering, emotional trauma, uterine perforation and adhesions which reduced her fertility (by 25%) and meant she might need further surgery in the future for adhesions. Also, she would need caesarean section to deliver a baby if she became pregnant again in future. Her normal family life had been disturbed greatly and her ability to care for her one-year-old baby. Understandably, she suffered from extreme anxiety and fear at not being believed and in relation to the Hospital being unable to identify and treat the cause of her significant pain.