Compensation of £5,000 recovered for avoidable pain during negligent episiotomy repair
22 July 2024
The specialist clinical negligence solicitors at Curtis Law Solicitors have recovered £5,000 in compensation for a client who experienced a prolonged period of pain and suffering during episiotomy repair because of substandard technique and failure to manage her analgesia.
Mrs K was pregnant and had exceeded her expected delivery date. She attended hospital where she was induced. She required an episiotomy, and her baby was delivered successfully. After delivery, Mrs K was placed into the lithotomy position so that the episiotomy could be repaired. The midwife attempted the repair for approximately one hour before calling for the assistance of another midwife. During this period, the analgesia that had been administered wore off and Mrs K’s complaints of pain and requests to stop the procedure were ignored by the midwife. It then took one hour for the midwife to escalate Mrs K’s care for senior clinical review so that further analgesia could be administered. On review, the episiotomy repair was found to be deficient, and Mrs K required surgical repair which required her to have a spinal block. The repair was finally completed four hours after she had given birth. The prolonged period in the lithotomy position materially contributed to Mrs K sustaining damage to her coccyx for which she required physiotherapy.
After reviewing Mrs K’s medical records, steps were taken to put the claim to the Trust. Early admissions of liability were secured which enabled prompt settlement of the claim.
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