''I have three choices but they're not very good choices. They're not very optimistic choices for me,'' the 32-year-old Latham resident said yesterday.

Ms Clifton is planning to take legal action against Canberra Hospital, after the birth of her third child turned into a nightmare.

Ms Clifton has told her story to The Canberra Times in the hope that it might spare other women from suffering similar problems at the hospital.

In June last year, Ms Clifton became ill after her son, Henry, was delivered by caesarean section at Canberra Hospital. Ms Clifton said she returned to the hospital three times and was sent home each time - once with antibiotics.

Almost six weeks after being discharged, Ms Clifton was re-hospitalised with an infected uterus after it was discovered fragments of placenta had been left behind after the caesarean. Then, a month later, she discovered her heart had also been damaged.

In February this year, Ms Clifton, who was again pregnant, was hospitalised with a serious bacterial infection. She accepted medical advice to have the pregnancy terminated.

She remained seriously ill and it later emerged that pieces of foetal tissue remained inside her. Subsequent procedures failed to deal with the infection.

After a month in Canberra Hospital, she discharged herself and went to privately operated Calvary Hospital where she was happy with the care she received.

''It's been horrible and it just makes you wonder how many people especially women have gone to [Canberra Hospital] and they've turned around and said, 'There's nothing wrong with you just go home','' she said.

Ms Clifton is still taking antibiotics and has been told the infection remains a threat to her health.

She has been advised that it would be unsafe for her to have more children and must now decide whether to have a hysterectomy, her tubes clamped, or do nothing.

ACT Health was unable to comment on individual patient cases due to privacy rules.

For more on this story, including details of the possible outcomes for Ms Clifton of each of her options, see the print edition of today's Canberra Times.