Doctors ignored my pleas after giving birth, now I’m left living with a colostomy bag

When Rachel Cooper arrived at hospital to give birth to her son in April 2018, she had no idea she would be leaving days later with a life-changing injury.

But Ms Cooper, now 43, is one of the dozens of mothers and families who say they were harmed by poor maternity care at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, one of the largest trusts in the country.

The now 43-year-old was discharged from the hospital after her vaginal labour with an untreated third-degree tear that was missed by medics.

It eventually became infected and, despite doctors claiming her symptoms were “normal”, Ms Cooper was forced to undergo surgery when her baby was just eight days old. Eight years on, she is still living with the repercussions.

She told The Independent: “The dangerous medical practices and poor treatment by staff characterised every stage of my birth journey and has had a permanent effect on my mental health. I’m not the mother to my baby that I could have been.”

Ms Cooper told her story as the government announced on Tuesday that Donna Ockenden, who chaired the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital maternity inquiry and is currently chairing the Nottingham University Hospitals maternity inquiry, will now also chair the probe into the Leeds trust.

Her appointment comes after months of campaigning by families in Leeds for her to be chair after initial pushback from health secretary Wes Streeting.

The full terms of the Leeds inquiry have yet to be agreed, but it is expected to look at cases between January 1 2011 and December 1 2025. The decision to hold an inquiry came following a BBC investigation in early 2025, which highlighted that the deaths of at least 56 babies and two mothers over the preceding five years may have been preventable.

Revealing her experience, Ms Cooper, who lives in Leeds, recalled how she was sitting on the ward holding her son when she had a sudden urge to go to the toilet.

She toldThe Independent: “I went to stand up and immediately afterwards, my bowels opened, filing my underwear. I had no control whatsoever. I was shocked and distraught.”

Ms Cooper said she sought out midwives on the ward to tell them what had happened. But she said she was made to “wait and wait” – only to be then told what she had experienced was normal.

She said: “It felt like going to A&E with a broken leg to be told it’s only a cramp.

“[They were] quite defensive and made it feel like: ‘Who was I to know about this and raise this? And why would I know things about what was happening to my body?

“As far as they were concerned, there wasn’t anything wrong. I did go on to further raise it and was told it was normal by a doctor in terms of, you know, ‘people can experience that after birth.’”

She said she wanted the doctors to be right, but the severity of her symptoms made her concerned about how she would recover without any treatment.

“I became quite distressed about being in the hospital and being in the place where I should be able to get help – yet not being able to get that,” she said.

Ms Cooper was discharged days later. But with her symptoms continuing, a community midwife examined her at home and recommended she return to hospital. Ms Cooper was assessed as having an undiagnosed third-degree tear that had become infected.

Yet, once diagnosed, she faced further uncertainty and unanswered questions, she said.

“I’d get no word as to why or what was meant to be happening next. The midwife said to me a few times, ‘you’re invisible’ – and that is absolutely how it felt – completely invisible.”

Eight days after being diagnosed, Ms Cooper was given surgery to address the tear. She had a stoma fitted – an opening to the abdomen that allows for urine or faeces to be diverted out into a colostomy bag.

Although she has been left with the physical impact, Ms Cooper said she has also been left with harm to her mental wellbeing.

“I can’t trust the hospital, and it’s going to be very hard when there comes a time when something else happens to me and I have to go to the hospital,” she said.

Ms Cooper said she hopes the trust will approach the inquiry with “openness and transparency and acknowledge that things went wrong.”

“I want them to accept that this is needed and that this is about people who’ve been harmed and babies that have died, and it’s about preventing that in the future,” she said.

Dr Dipesh Odedra, clinical director of women’s services at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, said: “We are truly sorry to Rachel for the harm she suffered following the birth of her son in our hospital.

“We recognise how traumatic this must be for her and apologise for the failings in her care. We fully investigated her care at the time and developed an action plan to address these failings, although we appreciate this will not bring any comfort to Rachel and her family.”