Last updated on August 16th, 2018 at 10:09 am

The woman, Ms A, who already had a child following a normal pregnancy in 1999, was 25 years old at the time of the first ectopic pregnancy in 2007.  At that time she was told that a partial left salpingectomy (removal of the fallopian tube) had been performed.

Second ectopic leads to failed IVF

In the following 4 years Ms A suffered 5 miscarriages, so, when she became pregnant in February 2011, she saw a specialist at Queen’s Medical Centre, Nottingham immediately in order to manage the pregnancy.  Unfortunately, Ms A suffered with the same sort of pains she’d encountered in 2007 and she was taken to surgery to investigate.

When Ms A awoke, she was told she had suffered a further ectopic pregnancy, this time in her right fallopian tube, but was told that the tube had been preserved – for which she was extremely grateful.

Hospital consultants suggested that Ms A should consider alternative ways of conceiving due to the problems she had suffered with miscarriages, so she had IVF treatment.  Unfortunately this failed.

Hospital failed to inform of tube disconnection

Ms A continued to suffer pain in her right fallopian tube and was seen by a consultant at Queen’s Medical Centre in November 2011.  She underwent surgery and was devasted to be told that her right tube had actually been disconnected and the left fallopian tube was also blocked.  Looing for answers, she contacted the consultant but he was unable to trace her notes, saying they “seem to have completely gone missing”.    Meetings followed, in which Ms A says she felt extremely uncomfortable, with the consutlant, acting very defensively, insinuating that she and her partner had misunderstood some of the issues surrounding the treatment – which was certainly not the case.

Salpingectomy reversal leads to 3^rd ectopic

Ms A was referred to the City Hospital for a reversal of the salpingectomy, which took place in May 2012.  She became pregnant in August 2012 and, as advised by the consultant, contacted him immediately.  She was told to go to the Queen’s Medical Centre to have her HCG (hormone produced during pregnancy) levels tracked.  The same evening Ms A started to bleed and when she contacted the hospital she was told that nothing could be done.    Distraught, she explained her history, and, after pressing, was told to come in the following day, when blood tests were taken and she was told to return a few days later.  Ms A was very upset and in a lot of pain, and knew that she needed a scan as soon as possible to see if the pregnancy was ectopic again.  Again she pressed the hospital staff and was eventually told by a nurse that she would try to get someone to see Ms A on that day.  Ms A waited until 5.30pm and was taken for a scan which showed that the pregnancy was ectopic. Ms A had heard about an injection that could shrink the foetus before surgery, thus minimizing the risk of damage to the fallopian tube.  Initially the doctors told her that she did not fit the criteria for this treatment.  They eventually agreed that she could have it, but warned her that there was a risk that the tube could explode and damage the ovaries.  Ms A chose to have surgery without the injection.

Ms A was later told that this latter ectopic pregnancy had occurred because she’d had the reversal surgery, which was particularly upsetting as it had been necessary only due to the hospital’s negligent treatment in the first place.

Graysons pursues hospital for negligence

Feeling very upset about the treatment that she had received from the hospital and suffering physical and psychological pain, Ms A struggled to deal with every day life, relying on her partner and family to help.  She contacted Graysons to see if she could gain any redress against the hospital.

Nikki took up her case and contacted the hospital trust, claiming it had been negligent, dishonest and misleading in its treatment.

The hospital vehemently denied liability throughout the case and Nikki issued court proceedings.  However, the hospital settled very late during litigation, after the case management conference, and Nikki was able to negotiate a settlement of £25,000.

Ms A said “What can I say apart from thank you so much Nikki.  This lady has worked so hard over the past 4 years on my case and been great. She took my case on with not much and got a result. I would use Graysons again and would recommend them, they are fantastic.”

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