A young mother whose baby’s head was cut and scarred as she was born by caeserian section intends to take her case to the health ombudsman.
The Press and Journal revealed yesterday how baby Karmen suffered a one-and-a-half inch cut between her eye and ear while being delivered at Raigmore Hospital in Inverness.
Politicians yesterday said that lessons had to be learned by NHS Highland, which has now launched an internal investigation into the incident.
Mum Emma Edwards, 21, from Wick, said that she may well take her case to higher authorities, depending on the outcome of the investigation.
Asked if she had considered approaching the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman, the 21-year-old said: “Yes probably. We’re just waiting to see what NHS Highland say in their report first.”
Ms Edwards has described the care she and her baby received as a “disaster from the start to the end”.
The locum doctor who performed the delicate operation said that she had not been told Ms Edwards’s waters had broken before the operation.
The injured newborn then had to wait for 24 hours for the wound to be stitched by a plastic surgeon who had to travel from Aberdeen.
Highland MSP and Scottish Conservative shadow health secretary Donald Cameron said: “This was clearly a very traumatic incident for the family involved.
“I think it is only right that NHS Highland has launched a full internal investigation to establish exactly what happened.
“The claim that it took 24 hours for a plastic surgeon to travel from Aberdeen to Raigmore Hospital is also concerning, and raises obvious questions around staffing levels and the management of resources.”
Labour Highland MSP Rhoda Grant added: “It must have been horrendous for the family involved.
“A caeserian section is a procedure which is increasingly used and is not without its risks.
“It’s a real shame, I really feel for the poor wee dear.
“Anytime anything goes wrong in an operation like this you would expect lessons to be learned.”
Ms Edwards was initially booked into Raigmore for a section on Thursday, June 16, because Karmen looked big in scans.
She travelled from Wick on the Wednesday with her partner George McPhee, 26 – but the operation was cancelled.
Ms Edwards said: “We went back up to Wick on Friday night and we had to travel back down to Inverness on Sunday night.
“I had to go in on Sunday night and when I went in I told them I was sore and in a lot of pain.
“They just said it was practice pain and they said I would be fine.
“At 3am my waters broke. I phoned them and they said I would be fine until my section in the morning.
“But I was in pain so I went in at 6am.”
Karmen was rushed to the special care baby unit immediately after being born because of the wound.
Afterwards the surgeon spoke to Ms Edwards and said that the cut had happened because she hadn’t told anyone that she was in labour – but the new mum said her medical records reflected she had.
NHS Highland bosses contacted her last week and want to meet to discuss what happened.
A health board spokeswoman said that they do not comment on individual cases but confirmed an internal investigation was underway.
A recent study of almost 900 women who underwent c-sections showed that 1.5% to 1.9% of the infants experienced cuts.
A spokeswoman for the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists said that they are unable to comment on individual cases but said an audit was ongoing to evaluate the quality of care received by women and newborns.
She added: “The audit aims to assess and improve the organisation and quality of maternity services as well as provide timely, high quality data that compares the care provided and outcomes achieved by providers of maternity care across a range of audit measures. Initially a three year project, the first report will be publicly available at the end of 2017 at www.maternityaudit.org.uk “