A mom in England was left paralyzed from the pelvis down after she was given an epidural during labor with her daughter.
When Irrum Jetha, 34, and her husband, Adam, 37, first welcomed their daughter in August 2014, they never imagined that the best day of their lives would soon turn into the worst.
Irrum had a pulmonary heart valve replaced when she was 19, so when she went into labor, doctors immediately recommended that she have an epidural to ease any strain on her heart.
“The birth itself was a fabulous experience. I was euphoric afterwards. And when Adam cried ‘It’s a girl’ we were both in tears,” the proud mom recalled, according to The Daily Mail.
It wasn’t until the next day, when Irrum still couldn’t feel her legs, that she and her doctors finally started to worry.
Several hours later, after transferring Irrum to another hospital, doctors finally performed an MRI scan that discovered she had suffered a rare epidural hematoma.
Essentially, Irrum was told that the epidural injection had caused a blood clot to compress her spinal cord, leaving her paralyzed from the pelvis down.
While Irrum endures extremely intense and painful physical therapy for several hours a day in hopes of walking on her own one day, her lawyer is trying to figure out where it all went wrong.
As The Daily Mail reports, Irrum’s lawyer believes that the epidural, combined with the delays in tests and treatment, may have led to her becoming paralyzed so quickly.
“It has been a huge struggle,” Irrum said. “I’m in a lot of pain and I don’t feel confident enough to leave the house in my chair alone. At times I feel so very useless.”
