Woman's uterus bursts during childbirth

A woman has reported a hospital in southern Sweden to the health authorities after doctors failed to notice that her uterus had burst, leaving half of her unborn child inside her abdominal cavity.

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The incident occurred when the woman was giving birth to her third child at a women’s clinic in Skåne’s university hospital in Lund, wrote the local Sydsvenskan newspaper.

Her other two children had been born through vaginal and caesarian birth, and when the most recent birth was not going as planned, hospital workers were cautious of undertaking the delicate task of performing a second c-section.

But when the woman complained that something felt “weird” in her stomach some nine hours into the birth, and when doctors noticed a corresponding slowing in the child’s heartbeat, it was decided that a Caesarian must be performed, wrote the paper.

Upon performing the emergency surgery, doctors noticed that the woman’s placenta had partially detached and that the unborn child’s arm, umbilical cord, and shoulder were protruding into the woman’s abdominal cavity.

Eva Ranklev Twetman, chief doctor at the hospital refers to the incident as a “complication” rather than a medical injury.

“Now, the clinic will tighten up in the area of for which we've been criticized and re-examine our procedures,” she told the paper.

A uterine rupture is rare, and can pose risks for both the mother and child, wrote the paper.

The child suffered from oxygen deficiency and needed emergency care to prevent brain damage, yet is now “recovering satisfactorily,” according to Sydsvenskan.