Woman fails IVF after doctors failed to realise contraceptive coil left inside for 29 years

A woman went through IVF in vain and was denied the chance to have children with her husband - after a contraceptive coil was accidentally left in place for 29 years.

63-year-old Jayne Huddleston and her husband David underwent eight failed rounds of IVF - six of which were privately funded, costing them thousands of pounds.

Ms Huddleston, from Wistaston, near Crewe, Cheshire, had the copper coil fitted in May 1989. After a routine smear test in June 1990, she was told by a GP there was no sign of the contraceptive device she had fitted around a year earlier, and it had fallen out.  She was referred for an ultrasound, which was clear. She had another device fitted, and two years later when she and her husband, now 61, decided to have children, the second device was removed.

Ms Huddleston - who had a son, Darren, now 38, from a previous relationship - 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. We tried everything and were referred to specialists who suggested IVF. Even after initially failed cycles the doctors didn't seem too concerned. They said we had good-quality embryos and I also had proven fertility. We asked 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 it again."

For years she suffered symptoms including heavy periods, bleeding, stomach pain and infections. She was unable to conceive so underwent eight rounds of IVF between 1995 and 2002. In 2019 she sought medical advice for back pain in 2019. During an appointment, a smear test was also carried out, during which a doctor believed she had seen a coil. A scan confirmed the presence of the device, originally fitted in 1989.

After the discovery of the coil, Ms Huddleston instructed expert medical negligence lawyers at Irwin Mitchell to investigate and has since secured a six-figure settlement from the GP's insurers. "When I was told in 2019 that they could see the coil I couldn't believe it. I was devastated and could only think about the babies me and David should have had. I couldn't believe that we'd had so many cycles of IVF. Everything we went through, all of the emotion, then having to pick ourselves up to try again just felt like a waste. It felt like it was all for nothing," she said.

The settlement will provide specialist support to try to come to terms with the psychological impact of not being able to have children together and help compensate for the private IVF treatment the couple underwent.

The specialist medical negligence lawyer at Irwin Mitchell representing Ms Huddleston, Zoe Donohue said: "This is an incredibly unusual but disturbing case which has had a devastating impact. We believe that if Jayne had undergone more thorough investigations and had been sent for an X-ray her coil would have been found and removed, meaning she wouldn't have had to go through the ordeal she has."

The Johnson Partnership

Derby Crime Solicitors 

01332 370 473