Ms B complained that after giving birth to twins, there was a delay in diagnosing she had a hernia, and she was wrongly told she had retained products of conception (parts of the placenta left in the womb after childbirth). Ms B said that that this resulted in her suffering significant pain, stress and depression.
What happened
Ms B gave birth to twins by emergency caesarean section in the spring of 2012. Four months later she was told she had retained products of conception, after an ultrasound scan. She had a surgical procedure called evacuation of retained products of conception (ERPC). When the tissue that was removed during the ERPC was analysed, it was found that she had a fibroid, not retained products of conception. Ms B was also found to have
a hernia at the site of her caesarean section scar. She had surgery to repair the hernia the following month. Ms B complained to the Trust about a number of matters, including a delay in diagnosing the hernia, and wrongly being told that she had retained products of conception when she in fact had a fibroid.
What we found
Ms B's care was managed appropriately. We found that appropriate investigations were carried out into the appearance of Ms B's caesarean scar, and the diagnosis of an incisional hernia was made at a reasonable time. It was reasonable to assume that Ms B had retained products of conception based on what was seen on the ultrasound scan, and that it would not be possible to identify that this was actually a fibroid until the tissue was
removed and examined. We did not uphold the complaint.
West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust
Suffolk
Did not apologise properly or do enough to put things right
Not applicable