Alicia speaks out about her battle with ACC in the hope of prevent other traumatised mums from experience suffering. Photo / Thomas Klockseth
Warning: This story may be distressing for some readers
A new mum says she has spent $10,000 on medical bills after crushing her tailbone while giving birth and has been declined ACC support.
Alicia Freeman, 39, gave birth to her daughter Josefine in December and has since been left crippled, relying on heavy pain medication and needing an extra three months off work, unpaid.
The Auckland mum described the pain as "feeling like someone is hitting your funny bone with a hammer, but constant".
Being a first-time mum, she didn't realise it wasn't normal to be in so much pain, she said.
"I felt like I was failing as a mother because I didn't enjoy the time with my new baby. Then when ACC didn't believe my claim, it really compounded that narrative in my head."
ACC have since re-opened Freeman's case and are investigating further after she paid for an MRI and sought legal advice.
Her story comes two weeks before a law change takes effect which aims to extend ACC coverage for birth injuries, including support for mums who fracture their tailbone during birth.
Freeman said she worried traumatised mums may still slip through the cracks after the law change takes effect and her story was an example of how.
Apart from enduring a 40-hour labour and her baby needing to vacuumed out, Freeman described the birth of her daughter as "normal".
When baby Josefine was born, she was rushed to Special Care Baby Unit (SCBU) with a broken collar bone and spent five days there.
While her baby recovered, she didn't.
"Every movement I made was excruciating. To cope, I was on heavy pain relief - taking Tramadol, Voltarin, Panadol and Ibuprofen - yet I was still in pain."
She said each time she breastfeed her newborn, every two to three hours, her tailbone would give way and click out of place.
"I ended up having to breastfeed lying down. Which meant I couldn't really leave the house much at all," Freeman said.
"Eventually I broke. I remember a specific conversation with my husband where I told him I was in so much pain every day, I just didn't want to be here anymore. I felt defeated, and quite alone. I was so, so unhappy."
The hospital lodged an ACC treatment injury claim for Freeman three weeks after giving birth.
After an hour of reviewing her medical notes, Freeman said an ACC case manager declined her claim as the X-ray suggested injury but didn't confirm a fracture.
A letter from ACC sent to Freeman in February said the pain she was experiencing was "due to the natural birthing process and the internal forces of labour rather than treatment factors".
"During pregnancy there is a natural softening of the ligaments in preparation for delivery of a baby," the letter, seen by the Herald, said.
Freeman sought legal advice and paid for an MRI to try to prove the fracture wasn't in her head, she said.
A report from a orthopedic surgeon, seen by the Herald, said he believed Freeman had fractured her tailbone at the time of childbirth.
"Her symptoms started at that point. Subsequent x-ray imaging showed suggestion of injury, though no clear diagnosis was made at that point. MRI scan two months later showed the presence of a fracture that had occurred recently."
The surgeon said the only other possible explanation for a tailbone fracture would be if she had had another significant injury within the past four months.
"But she cannot recall any other injury, there is no documentation of any other injury, and her well-defined symptoms started after childbirth," the surgeon said.
"There is, essentially, no doubt that she sustained the fracture during childbirth."
ACC acting deputy chief executive for service delivery Phil Riley told the Herald the agency acknowledged Freeman's injury suffered during childbirth was traumatic and they were actively investigating whether they could support her.
"Alicia's treatment injury claim is still being reviewed and we are gathering all the relevant medical information," Riley said.
He said while an initial scan appeared to show a partial dislocation of the tailbone, subsequent scans appeared to show a fracture of the tailbone.
"Because of the nature and extent of Alicia's injury remains unclear, our clinical adviser has recommended obtaining further information through a radiologist assessment.
Once this has been completed, Riley said an obstetrician could determine whether the injury was caused by "treatment" – and if that is the case, whether the injury was not a necessary part or ordinary consequence of childbirth.
Riley said if Freeman's claim is approved and she met the requirements they would consider "contributing" to medical costs and paying weekly compensation for time off work.
However, Freeman said the delay meant further suffering.
"My maternity leave had finished and this was without financial support and I ended up having to go on anti-depressants."
The $10,000 she has spend on medical bills included the MRI, x-ray, specialist appointments and steroid injection.
While the injection has given her some relief, Freeman said it still hadn't healed and she had been advised she may have to get her tailbone removed at her own cost.
She returned back to work part-time but said she had to allow time for regular rests each afternoon as she still lives in pain.
"I am fortunate though to have such a supportive husband, who not only had to watch me unsuccessfully try process my birth trauma, but also picked up the pieces when I couldn't. Not everyone has that."
She said her uphill battle with ACC made her angry at all the other traumatic births and injuries that might be getting denied.
"What about the ones that can't take it. I don't understand why we need to carry this alone. It's a human issue, not a female issue," she said.
She said reality was if I was out riding a bicycle and broke my tailbone, ACC would cover the injury.
"It's then up to the mother to fight them, despite possibly being debilitated, depressed, and isolated. It's not something that a new mother who is struggling to raise an infant always can do and it's certainly not something she should have to do".
READ MORE STORIES FROM OUR IN HER HEAD PROJECT
In Her Head is a Herald campaign for better women's health services. Health reporter Emma Russell investigates what's wrong with our current system and talks to wāhine who have been made to feel their serious illness is a figment of their imagination or "just part of being a woman".