A woman who suffered a third degree tear to her perineum during the birth of her first child has
recovered a substantial award of damages with assistance from M R Law.

On arriving at hospital, her labour was poorly managed and she went on to suffer a severe tear to
her perineum that continues to cause her major ongoing problems.

The hospital admitted a failure to manage her labour correctly. Had they done so, this would have
reduced the risk of her suffering such a severe tear and lessened the extent of her ongoing
symptoms.

Since the birth of her first child, she has continued to suffer major urinary and faecal incontinence
that is likely to affect her for some time to come, impacting upon all aspects of her life.

We were able to
demonstrate that the hospital had failed to provide appropriate treatment and reach an excellent settlement for our client that at least allows her to try to move on with her life. ~Robert Barker

Robert Barker, head of the Medical Negligence team at M R Law who dealt with the case comments:

“Perineum tears are a relatively common occurrence during childbirth therefore even though our
client suffered those problems did not necessarily mean she was able to pursue a claim for medical
negligence.

After investigating the circumstances arising during the birth of her child, we were able to
demonstrate that the hospital had failed to provide appropriate treatment, in that there was an
uncontrolled delivery of the baby’s head without our client undergoing an episiotomy. It caused her
to suffer a severe third-degree tear.

The consequences for our client since the birth of her child have been devastating, especially at such
a young age. She has continuing problems with all aspects of her life, including her ability to work in
her chosen profession due to her ongoing symptoms. There is a risk of her symptoms worsening as
she gets older.

We were able to reach an excellent settlement for our client that at least allows her to try to move
on with her life despite her continuing difficulties.”

If you have suffered complications arising during labour or childbirth, please contact our specialist
medical negligence team to speak directly to a qualified and experienced lawyer.