A woman found out she was pregnant TWO DAYS after being sterilised.
Rachel Dorney had surgery at Tameside Hospital, but discovered she was pregnant days later following a bout of morning sickness.
She has complained to hospital chiefs after medics failed to check she was pregnant before carrying out the surgery.
Rachel, 30, from Ashton-under-Lyne, visited Tameside Hospital on Thursday, June 30. She carried out a home pregnancy test two days later after being sick.
She went back to the hospital, where medics confirmed she was pregnant following a scan.
Hospital bosses have launched an investigation after Rachel made an official complaint.
Although a minor surgical procedure, information on the NHS’s website state that undergoing the surgery to block the patient’s fallopian tubes while pregnant can cause severe complications to a pregnancy.
Rachel will have to go back to the hospital in a few weeks to find out if there have been any complications because of the mistake.
She told the M.E.N: “When I went back to the hospital after the surgery, the doctor who did the procedure wouldn’t see me.
“I had done a pregnancy test at home after being sick in the morning.
“They took me down for a scan at the hospital and said I was pregnant. I should have had a test done before I was sterilised.
“When I went back, the nurse said I should have been given a pregnancy test on the day of the procedure.
“They don’t know at this stage if there’s going to be any problems with the baby. I have to go back at 12-weeks to check everything is okay.
“If they had have told me I was pregnant, I wouldn’t have had the operation because it can be dangerous.
“They’ve not spoke to me properly about what happened - and they won’t see me.
“It’s horrible what’s happened, I just can’t believe it.”
Potentially life-threatening
Sterilisation can have potentially life-threatening consequences if a woman is expecting - and NHS advice to patients is that they will be given a pregnancy test before going under the knife.
Once a woman’s fallopian tubes are blocked there is a high risk that any pregnancy will be ectopic - when the fertilised egg grows outside the womb, usually in the fallopian tubes.
An ectopic pregnancy can be life-threatening because it can cause severe internal bleeding.
A spokesman for Tameside Hospital NHS Foundation Trust said: “The trust has recently received a complaint from Miss Dorney following a procedure undertaken at the Trust on June 30, 2016.
“As this case is now under investigation, we are unable to comment on the specific circumstances.”
