Baby left with scar after she was SLICED open during her C-section delivery

September 23, 2016

Karmen McPhee was injured during delivery at Raigmore Hospital
Family had to wait 24 hours for a plastic surgeon to arrive from Inverness
Claims surgeon said she did not know Emma Edwards’ waters had broken
Estimated nearly 2 in 100 babies suffer lacerations during C-sections

Kate Pickles For Mailonline

Published:
08:10 EST, 23 September 2016

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Updated:
08:29 EST, 23 September 2016

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A baby has been scarred for life after a surgeon sliced open the girl’s head as she was being born.

Emma Edwards’ daughter Karmen was left with a one-and-a-half-inch scar between her eye and ear after she was delivered by Caesarean section in June.

Her distraught mother had to wait 24 hours for a plastic surgeon to travel from Aberdeen to Inverness stitch up her newborn’s wound.

She claims the locum doctor, who made the incision, said the mistake happened as she had not been told Ms Edwards was in labour as she performed the procedure.

Emma Edwards’s daughter Karmen was left with a one-and-a-half-inch scar between her eye and ear after she was cut as she delivered by Caesarean section

It is estimated nearly 2 in 100 babies suffer lacerations during delivery by a Caesarean.

Being in labour is one of the factors which heightens the risk, according to experts.

Ms Edwards said she has been left traumatised by the incident which had been followed by a series of upsetting delays to the operation.

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The 21-year-old said the mistake could have had far more serious consequences – and claimed the care she and her baby received had been a ‘disaster from the start to the end’.

She was initially booked into Raigmore Hospital in Inverness for a Caesarean section on the morning of Thursday June 16 because of the large size of her baby in scans.

She travelled from her home in Wick, Caithness, the day before with her partner, George McPhee, 26.

‘We went to the hospital on Thursday morning, about 8am,’ she said.

‘The hours kept passing and kept passing. Eventually at 5pm they said ‘we can’t do it because there are too many emergencies’.

Baby Karmen was injured as she arrived by Caesarean section in Inverness in June

The newborn had to wait 24 hours for a plastic surgeon arrived to stitch up the wound

‘Then they promised me it would be first thing on Friday morning, so we stayed overnight again.

‘Nobody came to me until about 12pm that day, then they cancelled again.

WHY DO FOETAL LACERATIONS OCCUR?

Foetal lacerations are birth injuries that occur during a Caesarian-section delivery, usually as a result of improper procedures performed by medical personnel during childbirth.

The lacerations are caused by nicks and cuts from scalpels, forceps, and other instruments used by physicians while performing a surgically-assisted delivery.

These lacerations are mostly minor and easily treated in the delivery room, but in some cases they can be deep and require stitches or reconstructive surgery.

There are several risk factors that increase the chances for fetal lacerations during a C-section delivery.

The principal risk factors include:

Ruptured membranes before the C-section
Low transverse uterine incisions
Active labour
Emergency C-section Inexperienced surgeons or residents

‘It was just a disaster from the start to the end.’

The family returned to Wick on the Friday night before having to travel back to Inverness on the Sunday evening so she could have her baby on the Monday morning.

But at 3am her waters broke, and she went to Raigmore three hours later.

‘When I went in I passed on to the midwife that my waters had broken at 3am and I was in a lot of pain, I was contracting, but they didn’t look me over.

‘At 10am I was ready. I went down for my section and everything was fine until after they delivered the baby.

‘They rushed her off to SCBU (special care baby unit) because they had cut her head.

‘The surgeon came and spoke to me afterwards and said that it happened because I hadn’t told anyone that my waters had broken and was in labour, but I checked my medical records and it said that I had explained that.

‘There’s a maternity unit right on my front doorstep but they just can’t do anything.

‘My family had to travel down on the Thursday and then they had to travel back and then down again. It’s expensive.

Now three months old, Karmen has recovered after her traumatic entrance into the world

Her parents, Ms Edwards and partner George McPhee, say it was fortunate she was not more badly injured following the botched birth

‘They want a meeting to speak about what happened. They’re launching an investigation into the surgeon because she doesn’t work for NHS Highland. She was a locum.’

The cut on the baby’s head was not stitched up until the following day because the hospital had to wait for a plastic surgeon to arrive from Aberdeen.

A health board spokesman said an internal investigation is being carried out into the incident.

He said: ‘NHS Highland does not comment on individual cases. We are carrying out an internal investigation into this incident.’