A woman was left unable to have children after her contraceptive coil - which she was told had fallen out - was left inside her for almost 30 years.
Jayne Huddleston was told by a GP in 1990 that the device she had fitted around a year earlier had fallen out. She had another device fitted but when she and her husband David, now 61, decided to have children two years later, the second device was removed.
Unbeknown to Jayne, the first device still remained, and she suffered with symptoms including heavy periods, bleeding, stomach pain and infections.
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After Jayne, now 63, was unable to conceive, she and David underwent eight failed rounds of IVF between 1995 and 2002. This included six privately funded rounds, costing them thousands of pounds.
It wasn't until Jayne underwent scans due to back pain that the remaining copper coil was detected, in 2019. She underwent surgery under general anaesthetic to remove the device.
Jayne, from Wistaston in Cheshire, said: "After the coil, which I now know was the second one, was inserted in 1990 I started to suffer with symptoms. It wasn’t nice at all. I remember visiting my GP on several occasions and being told it was just hormonal.
“However, after the second device was removed we struggled to conceive. I remember the GP checked my hormone levels and I was told that they were normal. Me and David tried everything we could think of but nothing happened and we were referred to specialists who suggested IVF.
“Even after initial failed cycles the doctors didn’t seem too concerned. They said we had good quality embryos and I also had proven fertility. 'I remember at one stage David even asking the doctor whether they were sure a coil wasn’t still there?
"We were told 'no it would have shown up on a scan'. Despite further attempts I didn’t fall pregnant. We gave ourselves a cut-off point and decided we couldn’t face the emotion of going through further attempts."
Jayne, who has a son Darren, 38, from a previous relationship, had the copper coil fitted in May 1989. Following a routine smear test in June 1990 she was told there was no sign of it and Jayne was referred for an ultrasound which was clear.
Jayne sought medical advice for back pain in 2019. A smear test was also carried out, during which a doctor believed she had seen a coil and a scan confirmed the device.
Following the discovery of the coil, Jayne instructed expert medical negligence lawyers at Irwin Mitchell to investigate and has since secured a six figure settlement from the GP's insurers.
Jayne added: "When I was told in 2019 after the scan that they could see the coil I couldn’t believe it. I was devastated. I was crying and could only think about the babies me and David should have had.
"It was just a complete shock. All me and David wanted was to have a child together to make our family complete.
"I couldn’t believe that we had had so many cycles of IVF. Everything we went through, all of the emotion, then having to pick ourselves up to try again, was all for nothing because I still had a coil in place.
“While following surgery to remove the coil my symptoms have gone I’m not sure we’ll ever get over the psychological pain of the last 30 years. I just hope that by speaking out I can raise awareness of the issues we’ve faced to hopefully mean others don’t have to go through what we have.”
The settlement will help compensate for the private IVF treatment Jayne and David underwent. It will also allow them to receive specialist support to try and come to terms with the psychological impact of not being able to have children together.
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