How Much Compensation Can You Get for a Third or Fourth Degree Tear?
If a third or fourth degree tear was caused by negligent care, general damages for pain, suffering and loss of enjoyment of life commonly range from nil, where a woman recovers well within about a year, to $350,000 or more for the most severe permanent injuries, up to each state’s cap. Lost earnings, treatment and care are claimed on top, and can make the total considerably larger. The amount depends on how permanent your symptoms are, your work, the treatment you need, the evidence, and the state where your care took place, because every state has its own thresholds and caps. Time limits apply everywhere.
General damages (pain, suffering and loss of enjoyment of life) for a negligently caused third or fourth degree tear, by the long-term outcome. Approximate, Australia-wide, before legal costs. Lost income, treatment and care are claimed on top.
| Long-term outcome | What it often looks like | Indicative general damages |
|---|---|---|
| Recovered | Painful months, then a good recovery within about a year, with no lasting symptoms | Nil to around $30,000 (often below the threshold in NSW, Victoria and the NT) |
| Moderate, lasting | Some ongoing urgency, trouble holding wind, scar pain or pain with sex, improved with treatment | Around $30,000 to $150,000 |
| Serious, permanent | Ongoing faecal incontinence, chronic pain or sexual dysfunction, surgery such as a sphincter repair, psychological injury | Around $150,000 to $350,000 |
| Most severe | Severe permanent incontinence, fistula, stoma or repeated failed repairs, major psychiatric injury, especially in a younger woman | $350,000 and above, up to the cap in each state |
On top of general damages: where a woman’s work is affected, lost earnings and superannuation, treatment and care can add tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars, and the most serious claims can exceed $1 million in total. These ranges are a general guide only, not a prediction or a promise. Every claim depends on proving negligence, on the evidence, and on the law of the state where the care was given. Caps and thresholds are indexed and change each year.
She didn’t want to ask. It felt grubby, she said, to put a number on what had happened to her. But she had stopped working because she couldn’t trust her bowels in a classroom, she was paying for weekly physiotherapy, she needed surgery, and her partner had taken unpaid leave to help with the baby. “I just want to know if it’s even worth looking into.”
If you are wondering how much compensation might be available for a third or fourth degree tear, you aren’t being greedy. Compensation exists to cover the real costs of an injury caused by negligent care: the treatment you need, the income you lose, the help you rely on, and the pain and loss of enjoyment of life. The table above gives the honest range. The rest of this guide explains where those figures come from, how the rules differ between states, and what makes the biggest difference to where a claim sits within the range.
Step one: is there a claim at all?
Compensation is only available if your injury was caused by negligent care. In every state and territory that means showing, usually with independent expert evidence, that:
- the care you received fell below what was widely accepted as competent professional practice at the time. Most states have a version of the same rule: a professional is not negligent if they acted in a way widely accepted by peer professional opinion as competent practice, unless that opinion is irrational (for example, Civil Liability Act 2002 (NSW) s 5O, Civil Liability Act 2003 (Qld) s 22, Wrongs Act 1958 (Vic) s 59)
- that failure caused your injury, or made it worse than it would otherwise have been
For third and fourth degree tears, claims commonly involve a tear that was missed or misgraded, a poor repair, an infection or breakdown that wasn’t treated, a failure to refer, an inappropriate assisted birth, or a failure to warn about risks, including before a next birth. In Rogers v Whitaker (1992) 175 CLR 479, the High Court held that doctors must warn patients of material risks, and in Wallace v Kam (2013) 250 CLR 375 it explained how causation works when the complaint is a failure to warn. Our article could my tear have been prevented? explains this in detail.
Not every severe tear involves negligence. That is the first thing a lawyer and an independent expert will look at.
What compensation is made up of
Tap any part of the graphic above to jump to it.
Part 1General damages: pain, suffering and loss of enjoyment of life
This is compensation for the injury itself: pain, incontinence, the effect on sex and relationships, the loss of activities you enjoyed, embarrassment, anxiety, and the impact on your life as a whole. In law it is often called non-economic loss. It is the part the table above is about.
Every state assesses it differently, and most have a threshold that must be met before anything is payable, and a cap at the top:
| State or territory | How general damages are assessed |
|---|---|
| New South Wales | Severity is assessed as a percentage of “a most extreme case”. Nothing is payable below 15%; the amount rises steeply to 33%, then in proportion. Maximum $804,000 from 1 October 2025. |
| Victoria | General damages are only payable for a “significant injury”, generally more than 5% whole person impairment for a physical injury, or 10% for a psychiatric injury. An indexed cap applies. |
| Queensland | The injury is given an injury scale value (ISV) from 0 to 100, converted to dollars by a regulated table. From 1 July 2026, an ISV of 10 is about $21,850, 30 about $88,900, 50 about $185,450, and 100 about $494,150. |
| Western Australia | A threshold and a deductible apply to lower value claims, both indexed each year. Above that, damages are assessed by the court. |
| South Australia | The injury is rated on a scale from 0 to 60, with a dollar value for each point, after a threshold for minor injuries. Amounts are generally lower than in other states. |
| Tasmania | A threshold and a deduction apply to smaller claims, indexed each year. |
| ACT | General damages are assessed by the court under common law principles, without the statutory threshold and cap found in most other states. |
| Northern Territory | Damages for non-economic loss require a threshold level of whole person impairment, and are assessed on a scale up to an indexed maximum. |
A summary only. Each state’s rules have detail and exceptions, and amounts are indexed. Advice must be based on where your care took place.
Within those rules, where your injury sits depends on its severity, how long it lasts, and how much it affects your life. A severe tear that healed well within a year may fall below the threshold in some states. A sphincter injury leaving permanent faecal incontinence, chronic pain, sexual dysfunction and psychological injury, particularly in a younger woman, will usually sit much higher.
Back to the overviewPart 2Past and future loss of earnings
If your injury meant you took longer off work, reduced your hours, changed jobs or stopped working, you can claim the income you lost, and the income you are likely to lose in the future, including superannuation. For women who can no longer work in their chosen field, this is often the largest part of a claim. Women in jobs where they can’t easily leave to use a toilet, such as teaching, nursing, retail, hospitality or trades, are often particularly affected.
Most states cap the weekly earnings that can be claimed (often at three times average weekly earnings) and discount future losses because they are paid as a lump sum. Payslips, tax returns and an employer’s letter matter a great deal.
Back to the overviewPart 3Medical and treatment costs, past and future
The reasonable cost of treatment caused by the injury, including:
- pelvic health physiotherapy and biofeedback
- specialist appointments, endoanal ultrasound and other tests
- surgery, such as a sphincter repair, perineal revision, fistula repair or prolapse surgery, and any future surgery
- psychology or counselling
- medications, continence products, pads and cushions
- the extra costs of a future birth, such as a planned caesarean, where that is a consequence of the injury
Keep receipts, and keep a list of appointments and travel. Our guides to bowel symptoms, sex after a tear and ongoing pain explain the treatment women often need.
Back to the overviewPart 4Care and help at home
After a severe tear many women need help with the baby, older children, housework, shopping and driving, often for weeks or months. Paid help, such as cleaning, childcare or meal services, can be claimed. Help from family and friends for free (gratuitous care) can also be claimed in most states, but usually only above a minimum level: in New South Wales, for example, at least six hours a week for at least six consecutive months. Keeping a diary of who helped, with what and for how long, is very useful.
Back to the overviewPart 5Other parts of a claim
- Psychological injury caused by the physical injury and the way it was handled. In several states, some types of damages for mental harm require a recognised psychiatric illness, so diagnosis and treatment records matter.
- Interest on some past losses.
- Your partner’s own claim, in some circumstances, for example if they suffered a recognised psychiatric injury after witnessing a traumatic birth.
What makes the biggest difference to the amount
- How permanent your symptoms are, especially bowel control, pain and sexual function
- Your age, because a younger woman lives with the effects for longer
- Your work and earnings, and how the injury has affected them
- Treatment and surgery you have needed and are likely to need
- Psychological injury, and whether it is diagnosed and treated
- The effect on future pregnancies and the way you give birth
- The state where your care took place
- The strength of the evidence: records, expert reports and your own account
Questions to ask a lawyer
1. Based on my records, is there likely to be a claim at all? 2. Which state's law applies to my claim? 3. What experts would need to review my care? 4. Which parts of compensation might apply to me (general damages, income, treatment, care)? 5. Where might my injury sit in the range, and is it likely to meet the threshold in my state? 6. What is my time limit, and when did it start? 7. How are costs handled, and what happens to costs if the claim doesn't succeed? 8. How long is a claim like mine likely to take, and what should I be keeping records of now?
What you can do now
Get your records
Request your full maternity records. Our guide to getting and reading your birth records explains how.
Keep a record
Keep receipts, appointment lists, time off work, and a simple diary of symptoms and the help you have needed.
Get treatment
Your health comes first, and treatment records are also important evidence of how the injury has affected you.
Get advice early
Time limits apply, and expert evidence takes time to obtain.
Time limits apply everywhere. In most states and territories the basic period for a personal injury claim is three years. In several, including New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania, it runs from when you knew, or ought to have known, that you were injured, that the injury was caused by someone’s fault, and that it was serious enough to justify a claim, with a longer outer limit. Other states count differently, and there are special rules for children and in some other situations. Please get advice early, rather than assuming you are within time.
In my practice
Women almost always apologise before they ask about compensation. I understand why. But I would gently say this: a claim is not about putting a price on your body. It is about making sure that the cost of an injury caused by someone else’s negligence doesn’t fall entirely on you and your family. The surgery, the physio, the lost income, the help you needed: those are real costs, and the law says they should be met by those responsible.
In my doctoral research on patterns of failure in medical negligence, I also saw how claims can drive change. When a hospital has to account for a missed tear or a failed repair, it has a reason to look at its training, its processes and its follow-up. Many women tell me that mattered to them as much as the money.
Drawn from the experiences of many women I have worked with, combined and changed so that no one can be identified. It does not describe any individual client.
What she noticed. A 3c tear that wasn’t recognised as one at the time, followed by months of urgency and leaking. She cut back to part-time work and then stopped altogether, because she couldn’t leave a classroom to get to a toilet in time.
What she was told. That she had a second degree tear, and that her symptoms would settle with pelvic floor exercises.
What the records showed. A repair note recording a second degree tear, with no rectal examination documented. An endoanal ultrasound eleven months later showing an unrepaired defect of both sphincters. Referral for a sphincter repair, and a recommendation for a caesarean for any future birth.
How she felt. “I didn’t want money. I wanted my life back,” she said. When she understood that compensation could pay for the surgery, the physio and the income she had lost, and give her the security to recover properly, she said she stopped feeling guilty for asking.
Both/and: it isn’t about money, and the costs are real
Both things are true. No amount of compensation undoes an injury, and most women would give it back in a heartbeat to have their health restored. And the costs of a negligently caused injury are real, ongoing, and often borne quietly by women and their families. Asking whether those costs should be met isn’t ungrateful. It is reasonable.
The bigger picture
RANZCOG’s Birth Trauma Roundtable Final Report (July 2026) highlighted cost as a real barrier to recovery, recommending subsidies for pelvic floor care and noting that chronic pelvic floor problems are not well recognised in disability assessments. For many women, the cost of physiotherapy, specialist care and lost work is the hidden part of a severe tear. Where that tear was caused by negligent care, compensation is how those costs are put back where they belong.
Support
- National Continence Helpline: 1800 33 00 66, free advice from nurse continence specialists, run by the Continence Foundation of Australia.
- PANDA (Perinatal Anxiety & Depression Australia): 1300 726 306, or panda.org.au.
- Birth Trauma Australia: birthtrauma.org.au, information and peer support for physical and emotional birth trauma.
- Our guide to finding support after birth trauma.
You don’t have to decide anything today. Getting advice is simply a way of finding out where you stand, so that whatever you decide, you decide it with clear information.
With care,
Rosemary
Frequently asked questions
How much compensation can I get for a third degree tear in Australia?
If the tear was caused by negligence, general damages commonly range from nil, where a woman recovers well within about a year, to around $150,000 for moderate lasting symptoms, and $150,000 to $350,000 or more for serious permanent injury. Lost earnings, treatment and care are claimed on top. The amount depends on the evidence and the state where your care took place.
Is a fourth degree tear worth more than a third degree tear?
Compensation is based on the effects of the injury on your life, not the grade alone. A fourth degree tear often has more serious long-term effects, but a missed or poorly repaired third degree tear causing permanent incontinence can be just as serious.
Is there a cap on compensation for pain and suffering?
In most states, yes. For example, the NSW maximum for non-economic loss was $804,000 from 1 October 2025, and Queensland’s scale runs to about $494,150 for the most severe injuries from 1 July 2026. Only the most extreme cases reach the maximum. The ACT does not have the same statutory cap.
Is there a minimum injury level before I can claim?
Most states have a threshold for general damages. In NSW the injury must be at least 15% of a most extreme case, and in Victoria it must be a significant injury, generally more than 5% whole person impairment. Other parts of a claim, such as lost income and treatment costs, may still be claimable.
Can I claim for lost income after a birth injury?
Yes, if the injury was caused by negligence. You can claim income lost in the past and likely to be lost in the future, including superannuation, usually subject to a weekly cap. For women who can’t return to their work, this is often the largest part of a claim.
Can my partner claim too?
In some circumstances. A partner who suffered a recognised psychiatric injury, for example after witnessing a traumatic birth, may have their own claim. Care your partner provides can also form part of your claim if it meets the thresholds in your state.
How long do I have to make a claim?
In most states the basic period is three years, often running from when you knew, or ought to have known, about the injury and that it was caused by someone’s fault, with a longer outer limit. The rules differ between states, so get advice early.
Find out where you stand
If you think your tear wasn’t properly prevented, recognised, repaired or followed up, we can review your situation and explain where it might sit in the range, confidentially. There’s no cost to find out where you stand.
- Is this normal? Recovery week by week
- My stitches smell, came apart or feel open
- “Nobody told me how bad my tear was”
- “I can’t control wind after birth”
- I can’t hold it, or make it to the toilet in time
- Sex after a third or fourth degree tear
- Still can’t sit, months later
- Caesarean or vaginal birth next time?
- Could my tear have been prevented?
- “I feel broken, and no one understands”
- How much compensation for a third or fourth degree tear? (you are here)
References
- Civil Liability Act 2002 (NSW); Wrongs Act 1958 (Vic); Civil Liability Act 2003 (Qld); Civil Liability Act 2002 (WA); Civil Liability Act 1936 (SA); Civil Liability Act 2002 (Tas); Civil Law (Wrongs) Act 2002 (ACT); Personal Injuries (Liabilities and Damages) Act 2003 (NT).
- Civil Liability (Non-economic Loss) Amendment Order 2025 (NSW). legislation.nsw.gov.au
- Civil Liability Indexation Notice 2026 (Qld), commencing 1 July 2026. legislation.qld.gov.au
- Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care. Third and Fourth Degree Perineal Tears Clinical Care Standard. Sydney: ACSQHC, 2021. safetyandquality.gov.au
- Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. Birth Trauma Roundtable Final Report. July 2026. ranzcog.edu.au
- Rogers v Whitaker (1992) 175 CLR 479; [1992] HCA 58.
- Wallace v Kam (2013) 250 CLR 375; [2013] HCA 19.
Client stories in this article are composites drawn from many women’s experiences and have been changed so that no one can be identified. They do not describe any individual client.
Written by Dr Rosemary Listing, PhD (Law). Rosemary is a medical negligence lawyer and Of Counsel at Peter Evans & Associates. She has practised since 2013 and worked on many hundreds of claims, including for women injured during childbirth. Her doctoral research examined patterns of failure in medical negligence, and she is a Sessional Lecturer in Health Law at the University of Newcastle. She is responsible for all content published under her name.
Rosemary is not medically qualified. Clinical information in this article is drawn from, and checked against, the national Clinical Care Standard, RANZCOG publications and state clinical guidelines listed in the references. Legal information reflects the law as at the review date.
Last updated 27 October 2026. First published 27 October 2026. Next review April 2027.
Cite this article: Listing, R. (2026, October 27). How Much Compensation Can You Get for a Third or Fourth Degree Tear?. Reframe Legal. https://reframelegal.com/how-much-compensation-for-a-third-or-fourth-degree-tear-or-pelvic-floor-injury/
This article is general information only. It isn’t medical or legal advice about your situation, and reading it doesn’t create a lawyer and client relationship. If you are worried about your health, please see your doctor, midwife or hospital. If you are in crisis, call 000 or Lifeline on 13 11 14. Legal services are provided by Peter Evans & Associates.
