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  • Perineal Tear: 3rd and 4th Degree Tear Claims

Perineal Tear: 3rd and 4th Degree Tear Claims

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If you’ve experienced a perineal tear, also known as a 3rd or 4th degree tear or obstetric anal sphincter injury (OASI), during childbirth, you might be reluctant to discuss your symptoms and injuries. Our caring and understanding solicitors are here to understand what caused your injuries and assess if you can make a claim for compensation.

We’ve decades of experience helping women claim compensation for injuries during labour. We understand you might feel uncomfortable about sharing details of your injuries. We’ll make sure you feel comfortable and supported to allow you to share your circumstances with us. Contact our team to start your claim.

A perineal tear is a tear to the perineum, which is the area between the vagina and anus. During labour, the increased pressure on the perineum can sometimes result in tearing as the baby is delivered. Whilst approximately 90% of mothers have minor tears during childbirth, some can be more severe, such as 3rd and 4th degree tears which can have life-changing consequences.

Substandard medical care can lead to a tear. This could be:

  • Not considering the risk factors for perineal tears and a failure to advise properly before giving birth.
  • Failure to take steps before or during childbirth to reduce the risk of a tear.
  • Failure to properly diagnose a tear immediately after delivery.
  • Failure to adequately repair a perineal tear.
  • Failure to react to signs of infection or unusual symptoms.

What are the symptoms of a perineal tear?

Both 3rd and 4th degree tears are painful and will require stitching for them to heal. Common symptoms of a perineal tear include:

  • Persistent pain
  • Bladder, bowel, and sphincter issues
  • Pain when urinating
  • Faecal and flatal incontinence
  • Fistula (a hole that can develop between the vagina and anus).

Why choose us to help with your perineal tear compensation claim?

Our medical negligence team is the largest of any law firm in the UK. You’ll benefit from their expert knowledge, as well as their understanding of the pain and suffering medical negligence can cause.

We understand that the legal world is full of jargon. Our experts will cut out this jargon and be by your side to explain every step of your claim. 

We’ve offices around the UK. This means there’ll be an expert in your nearest office who can help with your perineal tear claim. If you’d prefer, we can organise video or phone calls, or our specialists can communicate via email.

Not only will you be supported by our legal experts, you’ll also be given a dedicated Support and Rehabilitation Co-ordinator. The team are experts at sourcing the right support, rehabilitation, and recovery for your needs. We work closely with birth trauma charities and organisations around the UK, which means the support will be local to you, including:

  • The MASIC Foundation 
  • The Birth Trauma Association
  • Make Birth Better.

Once you get your compensation, you might be concerned about managing your money. Our Asset Management team will be on hand to offer advice on how to make the most of your compensation

Largest medical negligence team in the country
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Solicitors with in-depth medical knowledge

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Auriana Griffiths
Auriana Griffiths Partner Meet the team

Perineal Tear - More Information

When you contact our team, we’ll organise a free consultation where we’ll discuss what has happened to you and if you’re able to make a claim for compensation. Also, during this consultation, we’ll discuss funding options that are available for you, such as no win no fee arrangements.

Once we take on your claim, we’ll find out who caused your injuries and contact them to see if they accept fault. If they do, we’ll try to get you interim payments that can help cover any costs. Any interim payments will be taken out of your final settlement.

If the other party doesn’t accept fault, we’ll gather medical evidence and use independent medical professionals. These medical professionals can be crucial to your claim. They can evaluate your care and advise us on how your injuries will affect you now and in the future.

If they don’t accept that they caused your injuries, even after we present them with the evidence, your claim might need to go to court. We’ll always try to avoid your claim going to court, but we’ll be with you every step of the way. Even when a trial date is set, your claim may still be settled outside of court.

Normally, you’ve three years from the date of the negligence to make a claim for a perineal tear. If you didn’t realise immediately, you’ve got three years from the date you became aware the negligence caused your injuries.

The amount of compensation you’ll receive will depend on your unique situation, including:

  • The nature of negligent care received
  • The severity of the tear
  • The impact on your future.

This means we can’t give a standard estimate of how much compensation you’ll get for a perineal tear.

When you contact us and tell us more about your situation, we’ll be able to offer more guidance on how much you could be entitled to. Our team of medical negligence solicitors have a history of helping our clients obtain the highest-level of compensation available.

Compensation can:

  • Pay for physical and psychological treatment
  • Cover any financial losses you’ve had
  • Cover future loss of earnings if you need time off work.

Yes, you can make a no win no fee claim if you’ve had a perineal tear because of medical negligence.

Find out more about no win no fee agreements.

mental health worker chatting with client

We can now move on and look forward to a more stable and secure future. I am sure that this would not have happened without Irwin Mitchell being involved.”

Jayne, client

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the types of perineal tears?

You may not always be able to make a legal claim for a perineal tear. However, where you’ve received negligent treatment, and if you’ve sustained a more severe 3rd or 4th degree tear, you might be able to claim.

The most severe perineal tears are:

  • 1st degree tear – small and skin-deep tears.
  • 2nd degree tear – deeper and affect the muscle of your perineum.
  • 3rd degree tear - involves the skin, back of the vagina and muscles of the perineum being torn, extending to the anal sphincter. 3rd degree tears during childbirth need to be stitched closed.
  • 4th degree tear - the same as a 3rd degree tear but extends to the rectum. This also requires stitches. 3rd and 4th degree tears are generally repaired in theatre with either local or general anaesthetic.

What are the causes of a perineal tear?

A perineal tear can be caused by:

  • Your baby weighing more than 4kg
  • Induction
  • Epidural
  • Long second stage labour
  • Shoulder dystocia
  • Midline episiotomy
  • Forceps delivery
  • Occipitoposterior position.

Substandard medical care can lead to a tear. This could be:

  • Not considering the risk factors for perineal tears and a failure to advise properly before giving birth.
  • Failure to take steps before or during childbirth to reduce the risk of a tear.
  • Failure to properly diagnose a tear immediately after delivery.
  • Failure to adequately repair a perineal tear.
  • Failure to react to signs of infection or unusual symptoms.

Will I need stitches for a perineal tear?

First degree tears can often heal without stitches, however, if you’ve a higher-grade tear, or the tear is more than skin-deep you may need stitches. Usually, between 60% to 70% of perineal tears need stitches.

How can a medical professional help prevent a perineal tear?

During labour, a midwife can help you avoid a perineal tear when the baby’s head becomes visible. The midwife should ask you to stop pushing and to pant or puff a couple of quick short breaths. This will allow your baby’s head to emerge slowly and gently.

If a midwife doesn’t do this, you could suffer a perineal tear during labour. This is classed as a type of medical negligence that you can claim compensation for.

Read More FAQs

Related Information - Maternal Birth Injury Claims

Rehabilitation - we believe that rehabilitation is key when it comes to your recovery
Pregnancy & Gynaecology Claims - we can help with claims concerning fertility, contraceptive and gynaecological problems
Birth Injury Claims - if your child was injured because of negligent care during childbirth, we can help
Medical Negligence Compensation Guide - answering your common questions about medical negligence claims

Scottish Flag All Scottish cases will be handled by the Scottish law firm with which we are associated, Irwin Mitchell Scotland LLP. The law relating to funding is different in Scotland and you will receive separate advice about what that means as well as a separate funding agreement.

 

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