Obsgynaecritcare

You are the anaesthetist allocated to the anaesthetic outpatient clinic and you are asked to see a pregnant patient who is expecting her second child in a few months time who has been referred by a midwife from the antenatal services. She tells you that she had her first child three years earlier and that it was a very difficult and unpleasant experience. After a long difficult labour she asked for an epidural for pain relief. She describes that it was a very painful experience being placed and then it didn't work properly and despite being numb in her left leg she was still in a lot of pain. She then went to theatre for an emergency instrumental delivery - the anaesthetist there replaced it with "a new epidural" and she says she almost passed out and had trouble feeling her hands and breathing for about 30min. After delivery she had a numb patch on her left thigh and some musculoskeletal back pain for 6 months which she says a number of people have told her "were probably due to the epidural". She is very an