The Silent Danger: How a Rare Pregnancy Complication Is Leaving UK Women Facing Emergency Surgery

A Hidden Crisis in UK Maternity Care

Dozens of women across the United Kingdom have come forward to share harrowing accounts of how a rare but potentially deadly pregnancy complication went undetected by medical professionals, leaving them facing catastrophic haemorrhages, emergency hysterectomies, and lifelong physical and psychological consequences.

The condition at the centre of these stories is placenta accreta spectrum (PAS) — a serious disorder in which the placenta embeds itself too deeply into the uterine wall, making its natural separation during childbirth extremely difficult and dangerously unpredictable.

What Is Placenta Accreta Spectrum?

Under normal circumstances, the placenta — the organ responsible for supplying a developing baby with oxygen and vital nutrients — detaches cleanly from the uterus after birth. In women with PAS, however, the placenta grows abnormally deep into the uterine lining, and in some cases may partially or fully obstruct the cervix.

This abnormal attachment dramatically increases the risk of severe bleeding during or after delivery, and can prove fatal if not identified and managed in advance.

Women who have previously delivered by caesarean section face a heightened risk, as a new pregnancy's placenta can attach itself directly to the scar tissue left behind. In vitro fertilisation (IVF) has also been identified as a contributing risk factor, though experts note the additional risk associated with IVF remains relatively small. Researchers believe the embryo transfer and implantation process involved in IVF treatment may play a role, though the exact mechanism is not yet fully understood.

One Hundred Women, One Damning Dossier

The scale of the problem has been brought into sharp focus through the Action for Accreta campaign, launched in February by Amisha and Nik Adhia — a couple who began advocating after five separate hospitals failed to diagnose Amisha's own PAS condition.

Since the campaign's launch, one hundred women have contacted the Adhias to share their personal experiences. Seventy-five of these cases originate from across the UK, with the remaining twenty-five coming from overseas. The Adhias have compiled these accounts into a comprehensive dossier that paints a deeply troubling picture of missed diagnoses and preventable suffering.

Among the most alarming findings: six out of ten women in the report say their PAS went completely undiagnosed before delivery — dramatically increasing their risk of bleeding to death during childbirth.

"The fact that 61% of women in this report went undiagnosed proves that the essential infrastructure simply does not exist," said Amisha Adhia. "There is no central data, no mandatory reporting and no national body responsible for PAS, meaning best practice stays locked away in a handful of specialist centres while women elsewhere are left unprotected."

The Human Cost: Stories Behind the Statistics

Erin Cooper: From Theatre Nurse to PTSD Survivor

Erin Cooper, from Bedfordshire, experienced persistent heavy bleeding from 26 weeks into her pregnancy yet was never assessed for PAS. She ultimately delivered by emergency caesarean section at just 33 weeks in 2024.

"What no one had diagnosed was that my placenta was abnormally and dangerously attached," she recalled. "The haemorrhage was catastrophic. I lost 4.5 litres of blood, required 13 units in a massive blood transfusion, and to save my life they had to perform a hysterectomy."

The emotional toll has been equally devastating. Cooper, who worked as an NHS operating theatre nurse, has been forced to abandon her career and can no longer work in any patient-facing role.

"It was like a murder scene. I now have PTSD around blood. I get panicky when I hear sirens. I can't drive past the hospital without feeling like I'm about to have a panic attack. I feel a deep loss of my womanhood. I'm going into early menopause and not a day goes by when I don't think about being infertile at 33."

Chloe Robinson: A Daughter Left With Cerebral Palsy

Chloe Robinson from Burnley was rushed to hospital in the early hours of the morning after she began haemorrhaging at home at 34 weeks pregnant in July 2024.

"In theatre they discovered I had placenta accreta — something no one had suspected," she said. "They had to call in several on-call staff members because the team simply wasn't prepared. I lost six litres of blood and required a hysterectomy to save my life."

The consequences extended beyond Chloe herself. Her newborn daughter suffered a stroke during the traumatic delivery and has since been diagnosed with cerebral palsy.

"If they had found the condition before, none of this may have happened," Robinson said.

Cerri-Anne Almond: Lucky to Be Alive

Cerri-Anne Almond's PAS was only discovered once surgeons had already opened her abdomen during a caesarean section in 2021. The abnormal placental attachment became immediately apparent, and a specialist surgical team had to be urgently summoned.

"I'm one of the lucky ones," she acknowledged, while expressing deep concern for those whose stories ended far worse.

Campaigners Call for Urgent NHS Reform

The dossier has been described by campaigners as evidence of "a dangerous gap in maternity care" driven by "systemic failures" across the NHS. Politicians from all major parties at Westminster have reportedly thrown their support behind calls for a sweeping overhaul of how the health service identifies, records, and manages PAS.

Amisha Adhia recently met with Gillian Merron, the minister responsible for maternity care, urging the government to push the NHS toward meaningful reform.

Former health secretary Jeremy Hunt, who chairs Westminster's All Party Parliamentary Group on patient safety, voiced his support for the campaign:

"These stories and the Action for Accreta campaign highlight worrying gaps in how PAS is identified, recorded and managed across the NHS. Addressing these will require a more consistent, system-wide approach, including improved data, training and clinical preparedness."

Kim Thomas, chief executive of the Birth Trauma Association, also backed the campaign's calls for updated clinical guidelines, mandatory case reporting, and the inclusion of PAS on maternity care dashboards.

"PAS is a dangerous complication of pregnancy, and terrifying for the women who experience it. We have seen too many women suffer deep psychological trauma as a result of PAS, particularly when diagnosis has come too late," she said.

Government Response

A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Social Care acknowledged the women's experiences, stating: "Every mother deserves to be heard." The spokesperson pointed to an upcoming independent investigation into maternity care in England, led by Baroness Amos, expected to report next month, as a key mechanism for understanding and addressing the systemic issues at play.

For campaigners and survivors alike, however, the message is clear: awareness, early screening, and a coordinated national response are urgently needed — before more women and their babies pay an unacceptable price.