"Medical discharge post CS; complaint"

I had fabulous care from my midwives especially the midwives in labour and the birth. They will get their own care opinion with glowing reviews. Unfortunately I can't say the same thing about the RMO completing my medical discharge. I gave birth via cat2 c-section at 11:38 p.m, D-1. and lost a large amount of blood (1200mls) from a uterine tear and didn't make it into my room on the ward until nearly 2:00 a.m. My photos of that time show I have no colour at all in my face and my lips are grey/white.

Day 2 The RMO came into my room. Less than, 12 hours after the cesarean section to start my discharge without looking at my pregnancy, labour or birth, history (experienced staff member). And without reviewing my blood results from that morning which I had to ask them to go and review as I suspected I would need an iron infusion given the volume of blood that was lost. When they finally came back into the room, they reluctantly agreed that I needed a iron infusion and that they would book it. I asked if it can be done while in hospital as I knew I wouldn't be leaving for at least another 2 days/ 1 night. The RMO said I would be contacted when it was booked. They also didn't repeat my bloods for the following morning to see if they would change, given that my haemoglobin level seemed abnormal during labour in comparison to my 36-week bloods.

Day 3- The same RMO barged into my room the following day. Again, not appearing to have read any of my file. They then stated that they needed to continue with discharge check even though I was clearly exhausted and I had asked if it can be done at a later that day, as it was the first moment to sleep for about 6hrs. Again, this request was ignored. The RMO then started asking me how I was going though didn't appear to care about the answers and proceeded to accuse me of not moving enough given that my stomach was distended. I later found out that I was not charted the correct amount of aperients. I had stated that my pain had significantly increased from the day prior where I had been experiencing next to no pain at all and that all the medication from the c-section had worn off and I was feeling extremely tired due to the blood loss so I hadn't been pushing myself and I had been up a lot of the night, caring for my baby with minimal assistance from the midwifery staff. I had also needed to stop the tramadol as I was having an allergic reaction to it. So my options for analgesia were limited and this was not reviewed.

The doctor then said they needed to check my breasts. I had advised them that my breasts were comfortable and that there was no nipple damage. They ignored me and proceeded to pull my top down to inspect the nipples. They then asked about my blood loss. I said it was small to moderate. Again same as the breasts pulled my underwear back without consent to inspect my pad.  At no point did they ask for consent to inspect my breasts or my bleeding and to this day I still feel like this was a violation of my person and I felt that I was unable to defend myself. My husband was sitting next to me during this exam and he was shocked at the doctors actions. At no point did the doctor ask about my legs or inspect my legs given that there had been noted Oedema and I was having to wear significantly larger teds than normal.

The doctor then said I was cleared for discharge. I had to ask again about the iron infusion. I had to ask my midwife later that day whether or not the doctor had requested a repeat blood test as it was. It wasn't until the day of discharge (d4/ <72hr) that my HB was checked -80ish and the midwife realised that the doctor had put the iron infusion request in as outpatient and not originally as an inpatient. Due to being discharged on a Friday I didn't receive my infusion until D-10, I also learnt that I would be expecting a bill for the iron infusion, as it was being conducted as an outpatient procedure, but had I had the infusion as an in patient it would be free. By this point I was feeling extremely weak and I had significant delay in milk supply. Leading to a difficult birth experience being complicated by poor post partum medical management.

I hope that no one else has to receive the treatment that I had, particularly by that RMO. And I felt that it was only because of my training that I was able to advocate for the appropriate care.