Doctors at Torbay and South Devon Trust forgot to perform routine hourly checks on an intensive care patient following the birth of her child, leading to her having both legs amputated.
Ella Clarke, 31, was undergoing her sixth C-section when she suffered a complication called placenta accreta, which can be common when a woman has had multiple C-sections.
The mother of eight was placed into an induced coma for five days after she lost six litres of blood, had five blood transfusions and a hysterectomy to save her life.
She was transferred to intensive where doctors were supposed to monitor her condition every hour for 24 hours.
It is claimed that doctors did not check on Mrs Clarke for six hours, when they found that her legs had clotted and circulation had stopped.
She was rushed to surgery where two surgeons tried to save her legs, but it was too late and they had to perform a double amputation.
“I was an active mum doing the school runs and chasing my family around the garden. Now I’m the complete opposite” said Mrs Clarke.
She continued: “Going into hospital to have a baby should have been the best moment of my life. I had no idea what was going on. I was put to sleep for the C-section and then put immediately into an induced coma when things started to go wrong.
I remember the moment I woke up. I thought I was waking up from my C-section. I expected my beautiful little baby girl to be passed to me. I had no idea I’d been in a coma. Instead I was told doctors had amputated my legs after complications with my C-section.”
A spokesman for Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust said: “We would like to offer our sympathy to Mrs Clarke. We are carrying out a full and thorough investigation and at this time it is not appropriate for us to make further comment.”
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