A WOMAN who suffered flashbacks, anxiety and nightmares after an agonising caesarean section is suing Worcestershire Acute Hospitals Trust for £300,000.

Joanne Needs claims doctors failed to test the efficiency of an epidural before the procedure to deliver her daughter Ruby on Sunday, April 22, 2001, at the former Ronkswood hospital.

She says they should have realised the anaesthetic was not working and that she was still in pain, even after doctors increased it several times during surgery.

Now she and her husband Gareth are seeking the damages for personal injury and loss of earnings.

The former RSPCA inspector claims she screamed when the doctor made an incision to start the caesarean.

The operation was stopped but, after a discussion, two doctors decided a general anaesthetic was not necessary and administered another pain-relieving injection.

It is alleged the procedure continued and that she could still feel everything.

Mrs Needs claims doctors "swore" during the operation, and one told her to "keep still" because of involuntarily leg movements which put the baby at risk.

Ruby was born nine minutes after the start of the caesarean.

A claim lodged by the couple's solicitors with the Queen's Bench Division in London, last month, says the Trust "owed to Mr and Mrs Needs a direct duty to take all reasonable care to ensure it employed sufficient staff of suitable competence and experience, supervised staff whenever this was reasonably required, and provided a safe system of healthcare".

"Mrs Needs suffered from considerable mental distress following the delivery. She began to experience flashbacks, symptoms of anxiety and nightmares... and found hospital attendances with Ruby very traumatic."

She was still too ill to go back to work as an RSPCA inspector, according to her solicitor.

Mr Needs' £40,000-a-year job making replica sports cars was affected when he developed a "major depressive disorder precipitated by the birth of Ruby," the claim says.

"His symptoms were a persistent mood of unhappiness, poor concentration, sleep and appetite disturbance, poor energy levels, loss of motivation and feelings of low self-esteem."

The family now live in Alicante, Spain. Worcestershire Acute NHS Trust declined to comment on the case.