A young Auckland couple’s first few weeks of parenthood have been filled with stress, pain and anxiety after the new mum broke her leg leaving the maternity ward.

Shina Ali, 27, told the Herald on Sunday she broke her right tibia when she fell just hours after having an epidural at Middlemore Hospital. She said she had repeatedly told a nurse her leg was still numb.

The hospital is investigating and will report to the Health Quality and Safety Commission.

Early on February 18, Ali, in labour, arrived at the hospital with her husband Zaoheb Mohammed, 30, and her mother.

She was given an epidural about midday, followed by a bolus top-up later that afternoon. At 5.53pm Isaac was born.

About 9.30pm, Ali’s midwife handed her over to the staff nurse, saying Ali could be transferred to a maternity care centre, but only after she regained feeling in her right leg.
“Once the midwife left, the staff nurse started forcing me to walk,” the new mum told the Herald on Sunday.

“She asked me to go and have my shower so I tried to get off the bed but I fell halfway. My family were so angry they made me sit on the chair and sponged me.”

About 12.15am the nurse told the family they would have to leave because the ward was full, Ali said.

The couple said they asked for a wheelchair or help to walk to the car, but one was not made available.

“We made our way out of the labour ward — me, my mum and my husband. I took a few steps and I fell. I just sat on my right leg,” Ali said.

“I could feel that it was broken because I couldn’t lift it. But I couldn’t feel any pain because it was still numb.”

Mohammed said he knew his wife’s leg was broken because her shin was bent at an angle.
“I was really angry.”

She was taken back to the maternity ward, where a doctor examined her leg. “I was trying to tell him that my leg was broken,” Ali said.

The couple claim initial requests for an x-ray were declined.

Ali was allowed to stay overnight but says she wasn’t checked until about 7am when another nurse noticed her leg was bruised.

She then went for an x-ray, which confirmed the break.

On February 20, Ali had surgery to have a rod inserted.

“I was so stressed I couldn’t sleep or eat for five days,”Ali said.

She was discharged from hospital on February 27 and is recovering at home.

The Mangere house they rent has stairs and Ali said doctors had said it will be at least another four weeks before she can walk again.

Mohammed has returned to work as a mechanic and ACC has funded a homecare worker to help Ali for an hour a day. But she is worried about how she’ll cope when her mum returns home to Fiji in a few weeks.

“It’s still so hard because there’s so much to do at home — taking care of the baby, cooking and cleaning,” she said.

Ali said the nurse who did not provide her with a wheelchair and one doctor had apologised.

Ali’s midwife had helped her lodge a complaint with the Health and Disability Commissioner.

Middlemore Hospital’s clinical director obstetrics and gynaecology Dr Sarah Tout said a full investigation had been launched.

“The nurse involved is very sorry that Mrs Ali has sustained this very unusual injury following an epidural and we are investigating the sequence of events,” Tout said.

Hospital guidelines stated if a patient had an epidural during labour the woman should only be transferred after the epidural had worn off and she was relatively mobile.

“[Ali] was mobilising in the unit, showering on her own prior to her transfer to a primary birthing unit. She had demonstrated an acceptable level of mobility for transfer to a primary birthing unit,” Tout said.