Parents furious at hospital after their daughter is left with an inch-long scar after ‘surgeon SLICED her head during C-section’
Emma Edwards claims NHS Highland has not shared the findings of an investigation into the incident with her
A BABY girl was left with a giant scar after a doctor accidentally sliced her head during a "botched" caesarean section.
Now, her parents are furious that details of an investigation into the incident were not shared with them.
The incident happened as little Karmen was born at Raigmore Hospital in Inverness.
Mum Emma Edwards claims the surgeon told her the incident occurred because she failed to tell the hospital her waters had broken.
Karmen has been left with a one-and-a-half-inch scar between her eye and ear.
NHS Highland have now completed an internal investigation into the event, which came to light in September last year.
The health board say they have made changes to the safety briefings surgeons hold before operating, in light of the investigation.
They include patient management programmes and a change to the way risks are reported and communicated between staff and parents.
But Karmen’s parents claim officials failed to tell them about the findings.
Miss Edwards, from Wick, Caithness, revealed last year that the birth of her daughter had been a "disaster from the start to the end".
Nothing has been done about it and they have never got in touch with us
Robert Edwards
The locum doctor who made the incision in Karmen's head claimed she had not been told that Emma was in labour as she performed the procedure.
It followed a series of upsetting delays that culminated in Karmen having to wait a day for a plastic surgeon to travel from Aberdeen to stitch her wound.
The case brought to light concerns about a shake-up of maternity services in Caithness, which has forced some pregnant women to make a 200-mile round trip to Inverness to give birth.
More than a year after Karmen was born, the health board has confirmed that it has concluded its investigation.
NHS Highland would encourage Ms Edwards to contact our feedback team so we can discuss her case and the findings of the investigation
NHS Highland spokesman
Granddad Robert Edwards, 62, from Wick, Caithness, said the whole family has been left “totally disgusted” by the lack of communication from NHS Highland.
He said: “Nothing has been done about it and they have never got in touch with us.
“They managed to release a statement to the press but haven't got in touch with us in the days since.
“The surgeon who did it was a locum employed by NHS Highland.
“I don't understand why they can't send a locum up to here for at least a month.
“It would save a lot of stress for expectant mothers to have someone based up here.”
A spokesman for NHS Highland said: “NHS Highland has conducted an internal investigation into this case.
“We now provide Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists patient information leaflets on risk associated with caesarean sections and complete a full consent form produced by Scottish Women Held Maternity to highlight all possible risks.
“We have adapted our surgical safety brief to cover obstetric specific cases and requested that Datix, our patient safety and risk management programme, include and link with clinical speciality leads when reporting is done.
“We wrote last November to the patient in question to say we would be more than happy to respond to any concerns that she may have and to share with her the outcomes of the investigation that was undertaken.
"We also provided information about how to contact our feedback team and left a message on her answer phone for her to contact us.
"NHS Highland would encourage her and her family to contact our feedback team to discuss the case, the findings of the investigation, and any concerns, with her."
Emma, then aged 21, was booked into Raigmore on June 16 last year.
She had opted to have a caesarean because Karmen was a large baby.
MOST READ IN HEALTH
Emma said she waited to be seen all day before she was told staff were too busy.
Having travelled 100 miles down from Wick the family stayed in Inverness, but the same thing happened the next day.
They returned home and then travelled back to Inverness so Emma could have her baby on the Monday.
At 3am on Sunday her waters broke and she went to the hospital again.
After Karmen was born, medics rushed her to the special care baby unit because her head had been cut.
The surgeon spoke to Emma afterwards and said that it happened because she had not told anyone that her waters had broken and that she was in labour, but her medical records indicated that she had.
The cut on Karmen's head was not stitched up until the following day because the hospital had to wait for a plastic surgeon to arrive from Aberdeen.
We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? Email us at [email protected] or call 0207 782 4368