Many medical malpractice claims related to birth injuries involve claims of negligence. People realize too late that their doctor did not provide them with proper supervision during labor or proper interventions when things start going wrong. Negligence in the labor and delivery ward can have tragic consequences for the patient seeking care there.
Unfortunately, some doctors are more than negligent. They may engage in medical practices that are outdated, harmful and completely unnecessary. Their actions offer no benefit and actively cause distress and suffering to their patients. One procedure, in particular, can prove devastating for a woman who has just had a baby.
The husband stitch is unnecessary and sometimes cruel
The female body is quite miraculous. Its ability to adapt to the rigors of childbirth and then bounce back is beyond what most people realize. Unfortunately, certain myths persist. Men talk about childbirth affecting their pleasure during intimacy with their wives. However, there is little medical basis for those complaints. Most women who do not experience catastrophic tearing heal fully and can enjoy regular intimacy once enough time passes after delivery.
Some doctors pander to men by offering to provide a husband stitch. They may do this by communicating with the man and not the woman who is actually their patient. A husband stitch is an unnecessary suture inside the vaginal canal added to enhance the sensation of tightness during physical intimacy.
It often causes severe pain and extends how long it takes a woman to heal after giving birth. It could lead to infection or severe scarring. The husband stitch and the pain it causes can make women averse to intimacy with their partners after they heal.
Most medical professionals readily acknowledge that the husband stitch is completely unnecessary. If a doctor performs this procedure without getting the informed consent of the female patient, that may constitute medical malpractice. The woman who had a doctor mistreat her in a medical setting may have grounds to file a lawsuit.
Holding a doctor accountable for borderline abusive habits by filing a medical malpractice lawsuit can potentially compensate an affected woman. That lawsuit can also be a profound lesson for the doctor abusing their medical privileges and the professional organization that employs them.