A WOMAN who claims she lost her marriage and was driven to the brink of suicide after being damaged by surgery that was supposed to repair a childbirth injury has been given leave to sue her doctor.

The woman says she suffered years of depression and was hospitalised following a suicide attempt after an operation left her with faecal incontinence.

The surgery was meant to repair an anal fissure following a forceps birth, but such surgery should not be performed on women who have recently had a baby, the woman claims in documents before the Supreme Court. She claims the surgeon made too large an incision, permanently damaging nerves and muscles, and that he failed to warn her that incontinence might result.

The Supreme Court has given the woman leave to sue colo-rectal surgeon Dominic Vellar, who operated on her in 1996, for breach of duty of care. Mr Vellar denies any negligence.

People who want to sue normally must do so within three years of realising that they have been injured. The woman argued that she did not realise until 2006 that her injury was caused by Mr Vellar's operation. Justice Stephen Kaye accepted that for years she thought her problems had been caused by management of her childbirth. She sought advice about suing her obstetrician but was told he was not legally liable.

Justice Kaye found she did not realise the operation had allegedly caused or contributed to her problems until another colo-rectal surgeon told her so in 2006.

The woman asked that she not be named. She is now 37 and lives on a single-parent pension in rented accommodation.

In his judgement, Justice Kaye said the woman gave birth to her first child at the Mercy Hospital in 1996 with the help of forceps and an episiotomy. She was left with pain and bowel problems.

She was told she had an anal fissure and was referred to Mr Vellar, who operated on her internal sphincter in May. She was left incontinent. Justice Kaye said that in 2006 another surgeon told her an ultrasound should have been performed before the surgery to check that she had not suffered other "silent" damage during the birth.