CINCINNATI, Jan. 20 (UPI) — An opera singer says her career is threatened by flatulence and incontinence after a botched episiotomy done while giving birth at an Army hospital in Kentucky.
Amy Herbst and her husband, Army Staff Sgt. James Herbst, sued the United States in federal court in Cincinnati. Herbst claims her opera career was postponed because of injuries caused by a nurse-midwife during the delivery of her first child, a boy, at a Fort Campbell hospital.
Her suit alleges Tiffany Williams, a certified nurse-midwife, performed the surgical incision, used in childbirth, during the second stage of Hebst’s labor, without Herbst’s knowledge or consent, Courthouse News Service reported Monday.
“No physician assessed or repaired the episiotomy,” the suit claims. It added Herbst later “began to experience fecal urgency and incontinence, including periodic leaking of stool and excessive flatulence.”
Herbst, who has performed with the Nashville Opera, is unable to work “as a result of her incontinence and excessive flatulence,” the suit says.
The Herbsts seek $2.5 million in damages for medical malpractice and loss of consortium, Courthouse News Service said.