Hi all,
I had my second baby 4 months ago in a private hospital and experienced what can only be described as the most horrific birth experience anyone should have to endure. Not because of complications or problems with my baby (I was induced after only a few hours because "my labour was slow") but because of the way in which I was treated (along with my husband and sister) by the midwife, and the bad decisions she made. It was so bad I thought I was dreaming it all. I was literally verbally abused, yelled at, told I couldn't watch the monitor (and had it turned away from me), told I couldn't get off the bed, told I deserved it (when I was screaming in pain) because I shouldn't have had my baby 2 weeks early, had a blanket shoved at me and my baby, told I was lying that the baby was coming out, refused to call my OB on time despite my begging (so he missed the birth)... And much more. The baby was violently expelled from my body (due to the syntocinon), I nearly bled to death, and now have a prolapse. I suffered physical and emotional trauma from the ordeal (I was also given too much syntocinon to speed up my labour).
I made a formal complaint to the hospital and they "investigated", only to come back to me a month later saying they finished investigating and the midwife denied everything me my sister and husband said happened.
I've been told next step is to take it to the Health Care Complaints Commission, and/or seek legal advice. What should I do? I'm wondering if any of you or anyone you know has had to take a matter like this higher up (or even to court) and what the outcome was. I would appreciate any suggestions or advice. Not only have I suffered terribly, but I don't want any other woman to go through what I went through. Thank you.
Hospital/midwife Complaint
Hospital/midwife Complaint
Posted in:
Mental Health, Pregnancy, Baby & Toddler
6 Replies
Honestly if your up for it Id take it to the HCCC. I have lodged a complaint before to HCCC and it was easy as filling in a form etc. if you have witnesses then that would strengthen your case. As this is your 4th baby you know what it should be like, and that midwife is out being nasty to other women!
I would take it further due to this midwives incompetence you now have to deal with a prolapse. Also the birth of ur child will for ever be tarnished by her not so good bedside manner I would take it further, perhaps talk to ur dr and give him some feed back about the treatment. At the very lease u can help prevent another family experiencing the treatment you received
If it truly was that bad, then yes. Take it further.
Wow that sounds horrendous! name and shame the hospital I say! and take it further this midwife could be doing this to others!!
I am so sorry for what you went through and I admire your strength to go through the complaint process. I also had a traumatic first birthing experience with my eldest and was treated horribly by one particular midwife, who told my mum to pass on the message to me to 'toughen up' and 'doesn't she know it's supposed to hurt?'. This was after 2 days of intense labour with no drugs. I was 19 at the time and wish in hindsight I had the strength to go through with a formal complaint. Best of luck and I hope you do go through with it to protect those who don't have the capacity to do it for themselves.
I have previously made a complaint to the hccc over treatment of my grandmother and they took the allegations very seriously. In the end we had a meeting with numerous hierarchy present and we were asked what we wanted out of the meeting. We stated what we wanted which was a written apology and specific procedures put in place to ensure the same thing never happened again. In the end, we got this plus an 8 bed wing attached to the emergency dept dedicated to what should have happened to my grandmother. They also provided updates from the hospital on the progress of their policies etc. It was a traumatic experience but well worth it in my opinion.
We didn't want money so I guess you eked to determine what you want out of a complaint.