Miscarriage Mismanagement and Asherman’s
Miscarriage Mismanagement and Asherman’s
Miscarriage Mismanagement and Asherman’s resulted after a Mother suffered failures in her care.
There were failures in this case to warn her about the risks and complications. There was a failure to discuss available treatments. All this followed the terrible news that her baby had no heartbeat.
The Mother was 40 years old and desperately wanted children. Any risk or complication which would have an impact on her ability to have children would have been of importance to her. This included the risk of long term chronic pain, risk of needing repeat surgery, risk of Asherman’s syndrome and infertility.
The Guidance
The GMC Guidance states that “Consent is the doctor’s responsibility. Patients need information about risk to make informed decisions. There are numerous risks involved in surgery, anaesthesia and sedation, and it wouldn’t be reasonable to expect the surgeon to go through every single one with every patient. Written information has a role to play but it should be made clear to the patient how important it is to read the leaflet and note any particular concerns they’d like to discuss with the surgeon.”
The GMC Advises that “Patient advisers should only give generic advice about the procedure e.g. how to prepare for surgery, what happens during the procedure, and how much time recovery usually takes. Any discussion about the risks, benefits, implications and limitations of cosmetic surgery, or the likely outcome in a specific case must be with the surgeon.”
The Mother’s Case
This did not happen in this case. No alternatives than surgical management of retained products were discussed with the Mother.
These would include: waiting for spontaneous miscarriage for a week or two or medical management by way of medication to take to bring on the process at home. If these failed then surgical management would be an option. Unfortunately the Mother was not informed of these non-surgical alternatives. Thus, she was not able to give fully informed consent. This would fall below the expected standard.
The Mother was not informed of the risks of surgical management which included ‘Asherman’s syndrome, adhesions, reduced fertility, cervical injury, uterine perforation, injuries to bladder bowel, and laparoscopy/laparotomy’. As a result of the procedure she went on to be diagnosed with Asherman’s syndrome. She suffered severe pelvic pain each period as the blood could not leave her body due to the cervix being closed. As a result of the adhesions she was rendered infertile. This caused a significant psychological impact.
She then sought out treatment for her Asherman’s by way of removal of the adhesions under hysteroscopy.
Call us today
We deal with a number of Asherman’s cases and understand the difficulties in accessing appropriate treatment and care. If you have Asherman’s or want to make an Ashermans Claim then get in touch with Dr Victoria Handley today. Don’t suffer in silence. Call FREE on 0800 470 2009 or email vhandley@handleylaw.co.uk