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Post-traumatic stress disorder and childbirth

Abstract:

Litigation is an ever present fact of life for those working in the area of women’s obstetric and gynaecological health. Since 1980, when the American Psychiatric Association first described post-traumatic Stress disorder (PTSD), it has been a compensatable diagnosis in litigation. As midwives, we have a duty of care to our clients and, as the causes and symptoms of PTSD have been in the public domain for twenty years, it may be that ‘lack of knowledge’ will be considered an inadequate response in the face of potential litigation. The issue of ‘forseeability of harm’ is now examined by the courts (Jenkins, 1995). Medico-legal considerations have demanded a new precision in thinking, assisted by the new biological dimensions of the disorder, which are currently being explored. This paper highlights some of the issues around trauma and childbirth and seeks to indicate experiences of both clients and midwives that can lead to psychopathology. It begins with the case history of Emma.

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childbirth trauma, PTSD, sexual abuse