He cost me the chance to have more children
05/02/2002

Farmer's wife Maria Fothergill was nervous about giving birth for the first time. Justifiably as it turned out.

During ante-natal classes at the Friarage Hospital, Northallerton, she was introduced to consultant Rich-ard Neale.

"I only ever saw him the once," she said.

What would become a nightmare experience began when she went into labour in June 1992. With no sign of her consultant and increasingly frantic with pain, her husband, Paul, grabbed the nearest person in a white coat.

"We wanted to see the consultant, but we were told he was busy. I wasn't on pain-killers and I was getting in a real state," said Mrs Fother-gill.

As contractions started, Mrs Fothergill was given a pain-killing epidural. There was still no sign of the baby.

"They said they might have to consider a Caesarean, but they would have to get Mr Neale's permission first," she said.

When the baby became distressed, Mrs Fothergill had an emergency Caesarean.

"It was done by a junior doctor, but Mr Neale did not check whether everything was okay," said Mrs Fothergill, who lives near Thirsk, North Yorkshire.

The wound became infected and would not heal.

"I was in agony, but they told me Mr Neale thought it was wind. When I got home, the wound burst," she said.

For the next fortnight a district nurse visited every day to change her dressings. But the wound still would not heal.

"I asked to see him when I had a check-up at the hospital, but he didn't come."

Six months later, the painful wound had still not healed.

"I went back to the Friarage. They asked when the baby was due because my abdomen was so bloated."

Despite a scan which showed signs of internal problems, Mrs Fothergill received a letter from Mr Neale saying there was no need for further treatment.

She had acupuncture to control the pain, but 18 months after her daughter, Emily, was born she collapsed and was rushed to hospital in Harrogate, bleeding heavily.

Finally, in 1997, five years after the Caesarean, a different Friarage consultant told her that the original wound had not healed.

An operation to remove scar tissue helped, but within a few months she had to have an urgent hysterectomy.

"We could probably have had more children. I would have loved to have had two, but because of this I never got the chance," she said.