How can I Get Compensation for a Negligent Third Degree Tear?
Speak to a specialist medical negligence solicitor if your maternity care has left you struggling with debilitating and distressing bowel problems.
Post-natal injury
Returning home with your new baby and realising that your bowel problems are on-going and severe is a shock. Unfortunately, this does occasionally happen and maternity professionals fail in their care of a new mother's perineum and anal sphincter.
If this is the case, it is possible to make a claim for compensation which will help to address the distressing practical problems, such as bowel leakage, which you may fact as well as addressing the broader problems of possible loss of earnings and the costs of treatment or equipment due to your symptoms.
Third degree tear negligence
Third degree tears are a risk, albeit small, of vaginal childbirth and occur when the pressure of the baby's delivery causes a tear which extends in to the muscles around the anus.
Maternity staff should check for this after the birth of the baby.
A failure to do so would be regarded as negligent as this is a known risk, especially for first-time mothers, women of Asian heritage and women whose baby has been delivered by instrumental delivery such as forceps.
Maternity staff should carry out a digital rectal examination to identify if any damage has been caused to the muscles around the anus. If this appears to be the case, the injury needs to be identified accurately as one of the following:
- A 3a tear, affecting less than 50% of the external sphincter
- A 3b tear affecting more than 50% of the external sphincter
- A 3c tear which additionally damages the internal sphincter
- A 4th degree tear which additionally damages the lining of the anal canal
Once accurately diagnosed, the injury should be repaired in an operating theatre by an experienced surgeon as soon as possible. Delays may risk a less effective repair.
How to get compensation
A medical negligence solicitor is the route to claiming compensation. They will analyse your medical records to assess the quality of your care and, where appropriate, identify the ways in which your life and health has been affected and the financial losses which they negligence has caused and is likely to cause into the future.
This could include a loss of earnings where your symptoms are undermining your ability to work as well as addressing costs such as the cost of equipment or specialist treatment.
Speak to a legal specialist
Glynns Solicitors are specialists in medical negligence law with extensive experience in maternal birth tear claims.
Contact us today to talk to a solicitor, free of charge, about the possibility of claiming compensation.
We can offer No Win No Fee medical negligence funding which we will discuss with you during your free initial telephone discussion.
Please call us on 0800 234 3300 (or from a mobile 01275 334030) or complete our Online Enquiry Form.
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