Summary: An opera singer from Kentucky has filed a lawsuit following an episiotomy during the birth of her son that has caused her to struggle in her career.
In a lawsuit filed by an Army wife and opera singer, a woman said that her career has been threatened by damage to her digestive and reproductive systems after a botched operation, according to The ArmyTimes.
The lawsuit claims that an Army nurse botched a childbirth operation.
The lawsuit was filed by Amy Herbst and Staff Sgr. James Herbst against the government in a federal court in Cincinnati.
The lawsuit is asking for $2.5 million in negligence, loss of income, pain and suffering and embarrassment.
“She is suffering through a very embarrassing and very significant injury, and frankly, the prognosis of a fully successful repair is pretty low,” attorney Charles Allen said.
Herbst claims that a nurse-midwife from Blanchfield Army Community Hospital at Fort Campbell, Kentucky caused injuries to her during the birth of her son in February of 2012 during an episiotomy.
In the lawsuit, Herbst claims that the nurse made the incision for the episiotomy without getting her consent or telling her of the procedure.
“There seemed to be an assumption that they didn’t need to involve the patient in the decision making … and they were completely wrong, as a matter of law and social responsibility,” Allen said. “The patient has a right to decide what’s done with her body.”
The lawsuit states that following Herbst’ release from the hospital, “began to experience fecal urgency and incontinence, including periodic leaking of stool and excessive flatulence.”
Herbst was told by another nurse during a follow-up visit that the incision could not be repaired.
Then, a surgeon from Vanderbilt told her she needed reconstructive surgery to fix the damage. The attorney for Herbst said that surgery might not fix the problem completely and might have to be performed multiple times.
The lawsuit also said that Herbst cannot perform her job as an opera singer due to complications from the injuries suffered.
Having the surgery also requires her to deliver future children via Cesarean, which poses another risk to her singing career, according to the lawsuit.
Laura Boyd, a spokesperson for the hospital, said the following:
“The Blanchfield Army Community Hospital staff always strives to provide high quality, safe and accessible health care that fully complies with all applicable standards of care,” Boyd said.
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Forced episiotomies are completely common, and, as Mr. Allen said, completely wrong. A 2013 national study found that the majority of American women (59%) who had recently received episiotomies did not give consent for the procedure (Listening to Mothers Survey III: http://www.childbirthconnection.org/article.asp?ck=10450). Routine episiotomy has been discredited by research for a quarter of a century as causing the very harms it was assumed to prevent. Yet, it is still practiced routinely by *some* care providers (in the six hospitals around Lexington, facility-level rates range from less than 1% to over 20%), and is very often done without permission.
Performing routine episiotomies goes against current best evidence, and performing any unconsented procedure goes against ethical and legal standards.
It’s good to see women bringing these cases.