A woman who bled 13 weeks after a miscarriage claims doctors at a Queensland hospital gave her insufficient follow-up care.
Breanna Tottle, 26, from south-east Queensland, bled for most of the summer after miscarrying her second child in late September.
She claims that hospital staff at her local hospital failed to scan her uterus multiple times despite her bleeding profusely for months.
Ms Tottle claims hospital staff told her she risked a hysterectomy – the complete loss of her uterus – if dilatation and curettage (D&C) surgery was not done correctly.
However, she stopped bleeding just days after seeing a private obstetrician perform the D&C surgery to finally remove the contents of her uterus.
Ms Tottle told Daily Mail Australia she first visited the hospital in September when she developed symptoms of a ‘missed miscarriage’.
Breanna Tottle, 26, from south-east Queensland, bled for almost all summer after miscarrying her second child in late September
The 26-year-old lived in fear that she would bleed in public and was so sad on some days that she “couldn’t move” and was constantly crying
Hospital staff told the young mother, who has a one-year-old son, that her body did not yet know it had lost the baby and gave her three options: wait and see, take some tablets to kickstart the miscarriage, or have C & D operation.
Just days after starting the tablets, Ms Tottle returned to hospital after she began to ‘flow’ blood and said she saw the ‘outline’ of the fetus in the toilet.
She claims that an emergency department doctor had a nurse hold an iPhone flashlight while he used a speculum to check for anything lodged in her cervix.
After part of the pregnancy issue was removed, Ms. Tottle stayed in hospital overnight, but was discharged the next morning after a doctor told her it didn’t feel like anything was left in her uterus.
But in November, she started gushing blood again and went to the emergency department where she experienced a traumatic incident in the toilets.
Ms Tottle said she bled all over her underwear and on the bathroom floor and is thankful that her one-year-old son who witnessed it probably won’t remember.
This time, her uterus was scanned, which revealed that it was still full of pregnancy material.
The young mother was afraid she would bleed in public or in shops and was so depressed on some days that she “couldn’t move” and cried all the time.
In November, Ms. Tottle started gushing blood again and went to the emergency department where she experienced a traumatic incident in the toilets
In December, she was placed on a mental health plan and met with a psychologist
However, the following month her health deteriorated.
“I was really, really sick, I was mentally exhausted, feverish,” she recalls.
Ms Tottle waited six hours in the emergency department before doctors discovered an infection in her uterus and hospitalized her overnight.
In the morning she claims that another doctor had told her she had no infection.
The 26-year-old decided to see a private obstetrician who discovered that her uterus was just as full of pregnancy material in January as it was in November.
The midwife was shocked to learn that Mrs. Tottle had been bleeding for 13 weeks straight and was now anemic due to the amount of blood she had lost.
She spent $4,000 on C&D surgery that stopped the bleeding the next day.
After her ordeal, Ms Tottle said she was approached by a customer liaison officer after she left a review for the hospital.
She was asked to attend a meeting with the hospital’s executive directors, who said her experience would be used as a training exercise for staff.
Ms Tottle finally stopped bleeding just days after seeing a private obstetrician perform dilatation and curettage operations to remove the contents of her uterus
However, a few months later, another woman, Nikkole Southwell, would also claim that staff at the same hospital had not cared for her adequately after a miscarriage.
Ms Southwell claims paramedics placed a small amount of fetus and pregnancy material in a biohazard bag, which she then had to keep in a waiting room.
She also claims that staff used an iPhone flashlight when examining her cervix.
Ms Southwell eventually had surgery at Mater Hospital, where doctors suspected she was suffering from an incomplete C&D operation.
She is now afraid to start IVF in hopes of having another baby, fearing her uterus is “ruined” after two dilatation and curettage surgeries, while Ms. Tottle isn’t sure when she’ll be ready to have another child. to get.
“I didn’t want a child for so long after that happened, I told my partner I don’t know when or if I’ll be ready,” she said.
West Moreton Health Chief Executive Hannah Bloc said she recognizes that losing a baby is “deeply traumatic” for women and their families.
“Connecting with patients is one of our core values, and I’m sorry if that didn’t happen in Breanna’s case,” she told Daily Mail Australia.
“After Breanna raised her concerns in January, her concern was reviewed.
“One of the recommendations of that review was to create a working group to improve our model of care for women who miscarry.
“An important part of the success of this work will be involving women with experience in our service.”
Daily Mail Australia has contacted the Queensland Health Department.