Queensland woman ‘robbed of chance to have more children’ after botched surgery

Kaitlin Bruce desperately wants another child but she says a horror experience with a cesarean section which ultimately led to a hysterectomy has robbed her of that chance.

Kaitlin Bruce desperately wants another child but she says a horror experience with a caesarean section which ultimately led to a hysterectomy has robbed her of that chance.

Ms Bruce, now 35, gave birth to her third baby in September 2020 at Caboolture Hospital via emergency C-section.

What followed was two years of bleeding, excruciating pain and “Band-Aid” attempts to fix the problem, she said.

Ms Bruce said the hospital paid her just $6000 in compensation, as well as committing to paying for ongoing therapy.

In a follow-up surgery in January 2021, three months after her caesarean, she said the hospital decided to implant a Mirena – a contraceptive device – in an attempt to stop ongoing bleeding. During that surgery, it was found she had “retained pregnancy matter” from her C-section.

Kaitlin Bruce. Picture Lachie Millard

“It was just a Band-Aid approach to fix a problem that they had caused and it did not work at all,” she said. “I was bleeding for two years.”

The Kallangur woman complained in October 2021 to the office of then Health Minister Yvette D’Ath and an open disclosure meeting was held on April 22, 2022, where a representative from the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital told the group that not only did Kaitlin not need a C-section but her care from that point on was substandard.

A new doctor then took over her case and in November 2022 deemed a hysterectomy necessary to fix the problem.

Caboolture Hospital has been in the spotlight in the past few years over patient safety concerns – including in April this year when mum Brittany McDaniel was forced to undergo two surgeries to remove an ectopic pregnancy after the first surgery resulted in a blood vessel being nicked.

Kaitlin Bruce from Kallangur, with her two year old son Grayson, will need a hysterectomy after complications from a Caesarean delivery birth at Caboolture Hospital. Picture Lachie Millard

A year earlier Ms McDaniel’s baby, Weston, was repeatedly misdiagnosed, leaving him vulnerable to a potentially deadly skin disease. After going public, she was offered $200,000 in compensation.

As a result of her own hospital ordeal, Ms Bruce said she now suffers Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and cannot expand her family.

“It has been really devastating to me,” she said.

“I haven’t been able to work, I’ve been on a pension now for nearly three years.”

Ms Bruce was a disability support worker before was unable to return to work.

“The best they could give me was $6000, which was paying for the daycare that I had to provide for my son to be able to function on a daily basis, because I couldn’t lift him,” she said.

Ms Bruce said the hospital called her last year to check on her wellbeing after news broke that Mackay’s maternity service review found women had suffered “lifelong physical and mental harm” following substandard care at the hospital.

“It was incredibly triggering for me,” she said.

Ms Bruce said she had not spoken to anyone from the hospital since last November when the $6000 was paid.