Couple could not have baby after doctors missed coil
Six-figure payout after woman had IVF because medics failed to spot her contraceptive device
A WOMAN was denied the chance to have children with her husband and went through IVF in vain after a contraceptive coil was accidentally left in place for 29 years.
Jayne Huddleston, 63, and her husband David, underwent eight failed rounds of IVF, six privately-funded, costing them thousands of pounds, after her doctor failed to carry out the correct checks.
Ms Huddleston has secured a six-figure settlement from the GP’S insurers.
She was told by a GP in 1990 that the device she had fitted around a year earlier had fallen out. She had another device fitted but when she and her husband, now 61, decided to have children two years later, the second device was removed but the first remained.
For years Ms Huddleston, from Wistaston, near Crewe, Cheshire, suffered symptoms including heavy periods, bleeding, stomach pain and infections. She was unable to conceive so underwent eight rounds of IVF between 1995 and 2002.
Ms Huddleston’s remaining copper coil was picked up in 2019 during scans she underwent after complaining of back pain. She underwent surgery to remove the device.
She said: “After the coil, which I now know was the second one, was inserted in 1990 I started to suffer with symptoms. It wasn’t nice at all. I remember visiting my GP on several occasions and being told it was just hormonal.
“However, after the second device was removed we struggled to conceive. We tried everything and were referred to specialists who suggested IVF.
“Even after initial failed cycles the doctors didn’t seem too concerned. They said we had good quality embryos and I also had proven fertility.
“We asked whether they were sure a coil wasn’t still there? We were told no, it would have shown up on a scan.
Despite further attempts, I didn’t fall pregnant. We gave ourselves a cut-off point and decided we couldn’t face the emotion of going through it again.”
Ms Huddleston, who had a son, Darren, 38, from a previous relationship, had the copper coil fitted in May 1989. After a routine smear test in June 1990, she was told there was no sign of it and was referred for an ultrasound which was clear. She sought medical advice for back pain in 2019.
During an appointment a smear test was also carried out, during which a doctor believed she had seen a coil and a scan confirmed the device.
After the discovery of the coil, Ms Huddleston instructed expert medical negligence lawyers at Irwin Mitchell to investigate and has since secured a six figure settlement from the GP’S insurers.
She said: “When I was told in 2019 that they could see the coil I couldn’t believe it. I was devastated and could only think about the babies me and David should have had. I couldn’t believe that we’d had so many cycles of IVF. Everything we went through, all of the emotion, then having to pick ourselves up to try again just felt like a waste. It felt like it was all for nothing .”
The settlement will help compensate for the private IVF treatment the couple underwent and provide for specialist support to try to come to terms with the psychological impact of not being able to have children together.
Zoe Donohue, the specialist medical negligence lawyer at Irwin Mitchell representing Ms Huddleston, said: “This is an incredibly unusual but disturbing case which has had a devastating impact.
“We believe that if Jayne had undergone more thorough investigations and had been sent for an X-ray her coil would have been found and removed, meaning she wouldn’t have had to go through the ordeal she has.”