Women have had to undergo major emergency surgery, including a hysterectomy, when medical staff failed to detect they had a rare but potentially fatal complication of pregnancy. Scores of women have come forward to tell their stories of how they were affected by placenta accreta spectrum (PAS) since the launch in February of a campaign to raise awareness among NHS staff and mothers-to-be of the dangers it poses. One of them lost so much blood while giving birth that she has had to give up working as an NHS operating theatre nurse and suffers from PTSD. Another lost six litres of blood and blames her daughter’s cerebral palsy on the stroke the child had while hospital personnel were battling to save her life after an emergency caesarean section. Others have suffered permanent damage to their bladder or bowels. PAS is associated with a history of C-section birth while assisted fertility using in vitro fertilisation also increases the risk.…