Injured during childbirth

One in three women experience lasting health problems after childbirth, yet these injuries remain shrouded in silence and stigma—despite being preventable with proper care and education. In this powerful episode of The Documentary Podcast, three UK women share harrowing stories of life-altering birth injuries: severe perineal tears, rectovaginal fistulas, and permanent stomas—all resulting from emergency forceps deliveries due to fetal distress. Their trauma extended far beyond physical pain: careers were lost, mental health shattered, and social lives collapsed. Yet each woman found resilience through advocacy, peer support, and public storytelling. Jill became the first person in the world to swim the English Channel with a stoma; Geeta now leads patient safety initiatives; Karen rebuilt her life after years of isolation. The episode then shifts to global perspectives, revealing how childbirth injuries are even more devastating in low-resource settings like Kenya and the Democratic Republic of Congo, where women are ostracized, accused of witchcraft, and denied medical care. Despite this, health workers in all three regions are fighting back with education, community outreach, and destigmatization campaigns. The core message is clear: incontinence after birth is not normal, and women deserve truthful, accessible information to protect themselves and demand better care.