I gave birth to a beautiful boy, but suffered many dark months and operations due to the shortcomings of the hospital

A mother who suffered a serious injury during childbirth says her delayed care has left her “devastated”.

Ashley Roper, 37, suffered a buttonhole tear on her perineum while giving birth to her son, Albi. Doctors did not seek a surgeon’s opinion before attempting to repair the injury and she was discharged from Pinderfields Hospital in Wakefield.

Four days later, Ashley was readmitted and doctors noticed that a gap had developed in her perineum and suggested she should have repair surgery. Instead, she was advised to do pelvic floor exercises and physiotherapy, which meant she continued to suffer from urinary incontinence and wind symptoms.

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The pay specialist had seven surgeries after Albie’s birth to fix the problem because the surgery to repair the tear kept not working. She said: “When you go into hospital to have a baby, you never expect something like this to happen.

“When I was initially sent home after giving birth to Albi, I didn’t feel well. I was surprised when I was sent home a second time with the advice I was given, but I didn’t think I had any reason to doubt why. I was told.

“However, my symptoms continued, not just for a few weeks, but for months. The longer they lasted, the more they affected me, not just physically, but emotionally as well.

“I experienced discomfort as well as embarrassment at what I was going through. I was desperate for my symptoms to stop and felt like my life was just a series of hospital appointments and surgeries.

“Each time I hoped that the operation would put an end to what I was going through. It was devastating to be told that the repair surgery did not work.

“I felt like I was back to square one every time.”

Ashley gave birth to Albi in June 2017 and had her first repair operation the following March, but continued to suffer from symptoms. He had a stoma fitted a month later and underwent a second repair surgery in September 2018.

She was due to have her stoma reversed in December 2018, but woke up from anesthesia to find she still had it as the repair surgery failed again. Ashley was finally referred to a specialist at another hospital for her fourth repair surgery in October 2019 and had her stoma reversed in March 2020.

She was then forced to undergo a seventh operation in April 2022 to help combat urinary incontinence. She is no longer incontinent or suffering from spots, but she continues to suffer from constipation for which she needs medication.

Ashley, from Heckmondwike, said: “I went from being a resilient, independent woman to needing significant help. I needed long periods of leave and felt that I was losing a special connection with Albi because of my condition.

“While my friends were meeting in the park and attending children’s groups, I could barely leave the house. After many dark months, to be told that the fourth repair operation had worked was a relief.

“I’m still not right and I’m at risk of developing complications in the future, but I’m learning to adapt and get more of my life back. It took me many years to come to terms and find the courage to talk about what happened to me.

“The issue of birth trauma is still relatively taboo, but I hope that by speaking out I can help other women. No one should have to go through this experience alone because help and support is out there.”

Following her ordeal, Ashley instructed expert medical negligence solicitors at Irwin Mitchell to investigate her care at Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust. The trust admitted a breach of duty and that it should have diagnosed the gap in her perineum and provided repair surgery when she returned to hospital.

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Irwin Mitchell has now secured an undisclosed settlement for Ashley to fund the ongoing support and rehabilitation she needs following her injury. Rebecca Tramaseur, the specialist medical malpractice lawyer representing Ashley, “strongly believes” that her illness could have been avoided if she had received “proper treatment”.

She said: “The last few years and coming to terms with Ashley’s life-changing injuries and symptoms have been incredibly difficult not only for her but also for her family.

“The hospital trust acknowledged worrying issues in the care it provided to Ashley. Ashley and I strongly believe that if she had received proper treatment from the start, many of the problems she had to deal with could have been avoided.

“While nothing can compensate for her suffering, we are delighted to have been able to secure this settlement which will fund the specialist support Ashley needs to try and get her life back on track. Through our work, we continue to see too many mothers. suffering needless birth trauma.

“While Ashley has shown extraordinary courage in speaking out in the hope of helping mothers, it is vital that the hospital trust learns from the problems in Ashley’s case to improve patient safety for others. We also urge all hospital trusts to ensure that, as well as babies, the needs of mothers are fully recognized and they receive the best care, not only at birth but also during any further care they may need.”

Talib Yaseen, Chief Nursing Officer at Mid Yorkshire Teaching NHS Trust, said: “We are incredibly sorry that Mrs Roper suffered complications following the birth of her son and regret that we identified aspects of her care that should have been better. We wish Mrs. Roper all the best for the future.

“We reported last August that an internal service assurance audit had identified 52 women (of the 17,648 who gave birth at the Trust between January 2020 and December 2022) who had suffered a third or fourth degree perineal tear fourth during labor and where necessary postnatal referrals to both urogynecology and physiotherapy services were not made. We sincerely regret that those recommendations were not made and have apologized individually to those women who were affected and offered them follow-up appointments.

“We remain committed to providing the best possible care to our patients, ensuring they receive the correct diagnosis and treatment they need to get better. We take responsibility for our actions and remain committed to learning from any shortcomings to continually improve our services.”