‘I went to hospital to have my baby… and was discharged without my hand'

“It was a routine birth, but now I can’t bathe or breastfeed my baby... it’s breaking my heart and it's still a mystery how it happened."

*Carla’s birth experience should have gone smoothly.

The 24-year-old was young and healthy when she went into labour at 39 weeks.

Her sweet baby boy was healthy and all seemed to be going well.

But shortly after the delivery, Carla, who has two other children, started losing a dangerous amount of blood.

Medical staff at the Rio de Janeiro hospital rushed to her side, inserting a cannula into her hand.

It was a routine part of making sure doctors and nurses would be able to administer fluids and medications, but shockingly, the simple procedure cost Carla her hand.

“To this day, it is a mystery,” Carla's mother said. “She went in there and left without a part of her body, without her hand.”

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Carla's hand swelled, turned purple and became unbearably painful. Photo: Australscope

Mum's hand amputated after birth

It all seemed to happen so fast. After the cannula was inserted, Carla’s hand turned purple and became swollen. Her skin was so tight that she was in agonising pain.

Deciding they couldn’t cope with the emergency situation that was deteriorating quickly, Carla was transferred to another hospital, where she was told her hand would have to be amputated.

It's not known why her hand began to swell, but without the operation, she’d only have a five percent chance of survival.

The new mum just wanted to spend those precious first days with her baby boy, but instead she was undergoing a traumatic surgery.

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Instead of caring for her newborn son, Carla was in hospital for almost three weeks, recovering from her amputation. Photo: Australscope

“I can’t bathe or breastfeed my baby"

For 17 agonising days, she stayed in hospital recovering, unable to see or hold her newborn son.

“I missed the opportunity to see my son in the early days,” the devastated young mum said.

Now that she's home with all her children, Carla notices all the heartbreaking differences between the things she could do with her older two children, and what she can do with her baby.

“I can’t bathe my baby. I couldn’t breastfeed my baby. There are certain things I cannot do with him, which I had already done with my other two children,” she said.

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Carla is grieving all the things she can't do with her new baby because of her missing hand. Photo: Australscope

Family sues hospital after mum loses hand following birth

Carla’s family has filed a lawsuit against the hospital.

“This was a sequence of errors that must all be investigated in the criminal, administrative and civil spheres,” said her solicitor, Monalisa Gagno, said.

“We are going to ask for reparations for which it is civilly liable – cosmetic damage, and moral and material damage.”

She added that the investigation would also examine whether there was recklessness, negligence or malpractice.

*Name has been changed

Originally published as ‘I went to hospital to have my baby… and was discharged without my hand'