Mother, 31, left disabled after maternity staff botched intimate stitches and dismissed injury for FOUR years
A young mother was left with a major, life-changing disability after maternity doctors failed to spot and treat a common birth injury for several years.
Zara Ishfaq was just 26 when she suffered a severe vaginal tear while giving birth to her first child, which could have been resolved with simple stitches.
But despite repeatedly reporting severe pain, gut problems and suffering severe infections, Ms Ishfaq’s injuries went unaddressed.
The tear eventually developed into a 3cm fistula – a hole between the bowel and the vagina – which was eventually detected as the underlying of the problems.
Nearly four years after giving birth to her son, the accountant finally underwent major surgery to repair the hole.
Doctors were forced to fit a stoma – which diverts bowel waste into a bag worn outside of the body – to keep faeces away from the injured area so it could be surgically repaired and heal.
Healthcare professionals have admitted that, had her injuries been identified sooner, she could have been spared the devastating physical and psychological toll that followed.
Now 31, Ms Ishfaq is campaigning for greater awareness of birth injuries and improvements in maternity care.
Zara gave birth to her son on 21 December 2021. She says that, despite him being significantly bigger than most babies his age, she was not offered a Caesarean section
Her ordeal began during the birth of her first child – an experience she says should have been handled very differently.
Aariz was growing on the 97th centile – meaning he weighed more than 97 per cent of babies of the same age – when Zara was induced.
Despite this, she says a caesarean section was never discussed, even though it can help avoid complications associated with delivering a larger baby.
Midwives were forced to use forceps to pull the baby out, after his shoulders became stuck during delivery.
‘Everything became overwhelming very quickly,’ Ms Ishfaq, from London, recalls.
‘The midwife left the room and suddenly pressed the emergency alarm. Within moments, around 15 people came rushing into the room.
‘I remember hearing conversations about consent and the possibility of taking me to theatre. The consultant then said there was no time to wait, and they needed to deliver my baby immediately.’
Doctors performed an episiotomy – whereby a small cut is made between the vagina and back passage to widen the birth canal and assist delivery.
Her son was delivered safely but shortly after, Zara rapidly began losing blood
He was finally delivered unharmed, weighing 7lb 7oz.
But Ms Ishfaq suffered a serious post-delivery bleed, and quickly lost two litres of blood.
‘At the time, I had no idea how much this injury would change my life,’ she says.
‘One moment I had been pushing and trying to deliver my baby, and the next the room was filled with medical staff, alarms and urgent conversations.
‘I had very little time to process what was happening before it became an emergency.’
She was discharged two days later and attended a postnatal appointment on Boxing Day, reporting pain, swelling and a fever.
Despite concerns that her tear wasn’t healing properly, she was reassured that her recovery was progressing as expected.
‘What followed was an experience that I genuinely struggle to put into words,’ she says.
In the months that followed, she began to suffer distressing bowel symptoms.
By June, she was experiencing concerningly frequent bowel movements and leakage from the back passage that required her to wear incontinence pads.
The young mother suffered a vaginal tear that developed into a fistula which wouldn’t be detected for two years
Her concerns were again dismissed, and she was advised to carry out pelvic floor exercises — despite the underlying injury remaining undetected.
‘It affected every part of my life – physically, emotionally and mentally,’ she says.
‘What was supposed to be one of the happiest moments of my life became the beginning of a long and painful journey.’
Finally, following a check-up in December 2022, she was referred for a specialist assessment, which didn’t take place until July the following year.
But it wasn’t until May 2025, following a barrage of tests, that she was told that the extent of the damage caused by the birth injury had been severely underestimated.
Doctors informed her she would need major surgery.
Surgery performed in May 2025 left with a stoma – an opening in the abdomen that diverts bowel waste into an external bag
But she continues to suffer ongoing symptoms, which also affected her second pregnancy.
The mother-of-two is now campaigning for greater awareness of birth injuries and improvements in maternity care
When Ms Ishfaq was pregnant with her second child, Elayna, she suffered severe nausea and vomiting requiring hospital treatment, a condition known as hyperemesis gravidarum.
She also experienced diarrhoea, recurrent infections and sepsis – a life-threatening reaction to an infection – linked to complications from her previous injuries.
She is now campaigning for greater awareness of birth injuries and improvements in maternity care.
‘Too many women are suffering unnecessarily and more needs to be done to improve maternity care but also break the taboo around birth injuries to mums.
‘The solution starts with listening to women.
‘I feel so blessed and lucky to have my children. But that I had to go through the experience I did will always upset me.
‘If birth injuries are recognised earlier, treated sooner, and taken seriously, fewer women will have to live for years with preventable suffering.’
Barts Health NHS Trust has been approached for comment.
According to birth injury charity The MASIC Foundation, around one in 20 first-time mothers suffer an obstetric anal sphincter injury, including tears into the lining of the rectum that can lead to incontinence, chronic pain and psychological distress.
Just over 60 per cent of the NHS’s budget to cover clinical negligence claims – which totalled £60.3billion in 2024-25 – related to maternity and neonatal liabilities.
The NHS is now considering changes to managers’ contracts so it is easier to hold them to account for failings in maternity care, its chief executive revealed in June.
Sir Jim Mackey said ‘a lot of people often leave’ when things go wrong, making it difficult for the health service to sanction them or force them to co-operate with investigations.
He concluded there is a need to develop clearer expectations and standards for individuals and NHS trusts and ensure they are held to account.
His remarks came just days after Donna Ockenden published her report into the biggest maternity scandal in NHS history, which found hundreds of babies and mothers died or were left seriously injured at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust.
