Post-birth hell: Severe MRSA infection missed in new mother

Jessica Barnfather and her second-born, son Mykah, aged 8 months. Photo / Ben Tomsett

A horrific post-birth experience that left her in excruciating pain from a severe infection should not happen to another mother, an Invercargill woman says.

Jessica Barnfather had an emergency caesarean at Dunedin Hospital in 2020, performed by a doctor brought in to cover for her obstetrician who had been called away from her birth to an earlier emergency.

When she awoke from a full anaesthetic, Barnfather was screaming louder than during her labour, and the pain barely let up in subsequent days.

When she was discharged five days after the birth, Barnfather's urine was still full of blood and she was badly bruised.

"They said that was normal and as I had not had a C-section before so I assumed that was normal, but after a while, I realised that was not normal at all. I was in a significant amount of pain and I could barely walk."

Two days later, Barnfather started bleeding and was sent back to hospital by her midwife, beginning a to-and-fro process where she kept going to hospital in severe pain and medical staff kept discharging her.

"My midwife said 'you can't keep discharging her, she's actually unwell'."

However, it was not until her dressing was taken off and it was discovered that Barnfather had a bad MRSA infection and significant internal bleeding, that the full extent of her illness was revealed.

After being finally discharged from hospital, Barnfather lodged a complaint with the Health and Disability Commissioner.

An adviser from the office replied this week to say that the complaint was unlikely to be taken further as the Southern District Health Board had apologised, and also taken several corrective measures that its investigator believed would meet Barnfather's concerns.

The letter said that the Southern District Health Board had reflected on her case and agreed there was a need to improve the care of women after caesarean births to avoid infection and had made changes to its processes.

"I recognise that this has been a difficult and stressful experience for you, and I hope that it will bring you some comfort to know that appropriate changes have been made by the Southern DHB.

"I am reassured, as I hope you are, that your complaint has assisted in preventing similar issues from arising in the future," the letter said.

"My first thought when I saw the letter was 'Is that it?'," Barnfather said.

"But I hope by telling my story and getting this information out there that other people won't have to go through what I had to go through and that doctors and nurses will realise that they really should listen to what patients are telling them."

Barnfather gave up the baby she had in 2020 for adoption, but has since had another child, Mykah.

The pregnancy was again a complicated one and required another caesarean, but with none of the complications of her first, she said.