Patient ‘coerced’ into vaginal exam while in labour wins $280,000 negligence case
The medically unnecessary examination reactivated Larissa Gawthrop's latent PTSD, according to the Supreme Court judge.
A patient has been awarded $280,000 after a court found she was coerced into having a vaginal examination during labour.
The Supreme Court of Victoria has found that a midwife at Bendigo Hospital refused to admit Larissa Gawthrop until she consented to a vaginal examination (VE) in 2020, in line with the hospital’s after-hours admissions policy.
The midwife also advised that Ms Gawthrop could not be given nitrous oxide — or allowed into the bath — to relieve her back pain until she was examined, the court heard.
Ms Gawthrop, whose birth plan said she would refuse VEs unless medically urgent, relented after being told staff would not contact her usual midwife until a VE was done.
