Am I missing something here?
See this story. You may have to register for a free subscription so I've quoted a bit below
Parents of birth date error baby may take legal action - Irish Independent:
"On the first day of the inquest in December last year, midwife Winifred Berkley told the court that following an ultrasound scan in February 2003 she had inadvertently written a due date of July 13 on Mrs Darcy Lampf's file when it should have read August 16.
Mrs Darcy Lampf noticed the mistake and, when she returned to the hospital the following month for a routine check-up, alerted the doctor to the mistake. She was reassured that staff realised her true due date was in August and not July.
Mrs Darcy Lampf had delivered her first two children by caesarean section so doctors decided that she would do the same again with Jessica.
On her next check-up she again told the midwife that an error had been made in her file but was told 'not to worry'.
However, when she next attended the hospital in June a doctor told her she was 37 weeks rather than the expected 32 weeks pregnant and would now deliver in July.
When she came in for her final check-up a week later, she was told by consultant obstetrician Dr Seosaimh O Coigligh that she was now 38 weeks pregnant and would undergo the caesarean on July 8.
It was only when doctors delivered the 5.5lb baby that they realised their error. "
Helllllllloooooooooo!! If you knew they were making a mistake, why would you consent to the surgery. Even, if the consultants in Ireland act like God for the most part. I mean did his woman get brow beaten into surgery? Her child died which must be agonizing for her and her husband and it may be that something else was wrong because I'm sure at 32 weeks, most infants will survive but, why did she consent to the surgery?
posted by Portlairge at 5:28:00 PM
22 Comments:
Scary indeed. I can't imagine letting something like that happen to me. Unfortunately, I think so many women just trust their doctors with blind faith. Just goes to show you that you are your own best advocate.
PS Thank you for your kind and helpful comments on my blog today. I really appreciate it.
Oh my god that is horrible, that poor woman! I don't know what to think, I know that I fought the doctors when they wanted to induce me at 38 weeks and again at 39, I gave in 2 days before my due date bacause they showed me that the placenta was starting to calcify. I do remember feeling very vulnerable and that I had little or no say once they threw medical terms at me.
Good to see you blogging again.
How is the bump?
EXACTLY!!! This is the kind of stuff that goes on all the time. I know you (portlainge) already read my most recent post, but if more women were proactive like I was I think the medical community might get a clue and stop acting all Godly! People really need to start using their own judgement and gut instinct and at least get second opinions and additional testing done before saying..."okay, do what you will to me"
wouldn't she have been 35 weeks though? Like you said, something else was probably wrong...
EITHER WAY - like you I was thinking "WTF? Why would she go through with it???"
Yeah, pretty much I thought the exact same thing. Why on earth did she consent? She was probably sick of being pregnant. Imagine that.
Wow - another entry ALREADY!! Actually I can only imagine she put her baby's life in the hands of the medical profession rather than take the perceived greater risk of disagreeing with them. How terrible it must be for her now, though, looking back and knowing she knew better but didn't insist. Poor thing.
Oh, what a sad story :(
How could you judge that poor woman like that. She was not wrong the doctors were. And yes they do take over and almost brow beat you into agreeing with them. When you are scared, are unsure and afraid to disagree in case you are going to be the casue of something terrible happening to your baby you trust doctors that they know best. After all I am sure she had scans etc.
AS someone who had a HUGE battle with doctors re my due dates first time around it is bloody difficult to get anyone to stop and listen to you and you are made to feel like a mad lunatic woman who does not know what sh is talking about.
Shame on you to judge this woman when her heart must be broken.
To anonymous
If you must be anonymous then I can't respond to your comment.
Portlairge
No reson for me to be anon, just wasn't sure how to add a user name.
I came across this issue with hospital staff in Ireland, Waterford and Cork as I started care in Waterford and moved to Cork and there was this big drama about my dates. I was convinced I was right, theyu told me no, their scan was right. I had a HUGE battle with them in what was already a very traumatic time for me. They kept saying they were the medically trained people and knew best and I was ignorant.
They wanted to do a C-section when I was 34 weeks, I knew they were wrong but was told if there were any complcations due to them postponing the c-section then it would be my fault.
This was terrifying for a first time mother to think you might be the casue of your much longed for baby dying....
I stuck to my guns and was right but the stress was appalling.
I just think that poor woman was more than likely brow beaten and caved in to the pressure.
The doctors often congregated around me and talked about me to each other as if I wasn't there.
I was seen as a nuisance who was standing in the way of proceedures.
If at the end of all that trauma you came home without a baby then the last thing you need is to see people telling you it was all your fault anyway.
Surely we as mothers should be on the mother's side.
My name is Jennifer by the way.
Oh figured out how to add my name, I'm a bit clueless about this type of thing.
I do agree with Jennifer. Doctors do tend to browbeat patients. I received that sort of treatment from the doctor who tried to induce me. She screamed, yelled, told me that I was being selfish and should think about my baby. That I was going to cause serious damage to himself or myself. To realize that I needed to be healthy for my children....she went on and on and would not let me get a word in edgewise. I ended up hanging up and having my fiance answer the phone until we left the hospital.
Doctors can be tough, but we as women can be tougher if we educate ourselves and make sure we have our own ammunition when we inform our doctors that we disagree with them.
Hi Jennifer
Firstly, I sincerely hope your baby is healthy and doing ok after the ordeal you went through.I just reread my post through your eyes and I can see that I came across as being totally against the Mother but I really do have sincere empathy for her. I did ask in my post if the doctors had browbeaten her into this.I also realize that the newspapers do not tell the whole story and maybe she insisted about the timing of her pregnacy but they talked to her in the same way they did to you. I apologize to you and to all women who have gone through something like this. I had just commented on the blog of Kellie&kids last week when she was put in a similar situation. I hope I never have to go through something like this and you have made me see that I need to think before I write instead of just getting mad and blasting off, although truly I was more mad at the hospital and staff then I was at that poor woman although it didn't come across that way. In our section of the blogosphere we deal with issues that affect women such as the above debacle and the pain and anxiety that come with trying and failing to get pregnant and losing babies. I should definitely have been more sensitive.
Now for the small world part. I don't know if you know this from my blog name but I am from Waterford and I am a nurse although I trained in Dublin. I have lived in California for 14 years. I am very familiar with the medical system in Ireland both back then and now in the treatment my family receives. I am aware of the God like attitude of the consultants and the fact that patients have very little say in their treatment plans. Being an advocate for your own healthcare can work against you in Ireland because you will be seen as difficult and that will affect your treatment. Having worked here for 14 years and subsequently starting my/our battle with infertility I am a very strong advocate for my own healthcare. Being a nurse has definitely made it easier for me to go through this. It's not so much a knowledge of the problem- I had to read as much as the non medical people to learn about our problems and how to treat them but in navigating the system- I definitely had an edge. I was treated by an RE who worked in the community I worked in for many years so I knew a lot of people who could help me when things got tough. I was also lucky enough to have doctors who listened to me. In saying all this though I stop to think about me being in your situation or the situation of the poor mother in the Indo and what I would do in the situation. It has been a long hard road to get to where I am now and I still have DBT's almost daily, even though I have been fortunate enough not to have had that experience, I have read about the pain of many of my fellow bloggers and dread that that may happen me. If I was in your situation at 34 weeks pregnant insisting I did not want a c-section yet and being told my baby may die if I didn't- it would be a whole difffernt kettle of fish. I apologize again.
I hope we can communicate again. Do you have a blog? I will not leave my actual name on this comment but if you e-mail me from the link on my blog I will gladly share my real name with you.
Humbly
PortLairge
I think maybe I was the one who went a bit OTT on this. No I don't have a blog, I am not the sort of person who could articulate things in the way many other women do.
My baby is fine now thank God, there were complications around her birth and in the the first few months of her life but she is fine now.
I on the other hand was a complete wreck on my second baby, I was in and out of hospital from 30 weeks onwards and often made my husband stay with me as late as he could, he sometimes slept in a chair beside me, our toddler was abandoned to my mother.
This time around I was determined and more educated and knew about the issues around me giving birth and still the pressure was enormous as I know somewhere on my chart were the details of my first birth and the terrible issues I had with the hospital.
To be fair Waterford Hospital was wonderful, the matron was so nice and helpful when I was there, my issues were down to a complete lack of communciation between both hospitals.
I would rather not communicate further on this if you don't mind as I am pregnant again and went through such bad PND after my other births that I have promised my husband I will be as calm as possible and protect myself from negativity etc.
Take care.
Jennifer
No problem Jennifer. You should take care of yourself. I hope we can stay in touch, you can e-mail me directly from the about section of my blog. Congratulations on your pregnancy. When are you due? I am due October 6th. I can't wait.
Take care of yourself.
How awful!
As a former patient of the Doctor who carried out the c. section I sincerely doubt the woman was in any way co-erced or brow-beaten into anything. I had my second baby by section after him helping me to do any and everything to have a natural delivery (I had an emergency section on my first). He had no problem letting me go past 10 days overdue with monitoring and made it very clear I had the last word in every decision made... I just can't see him ignoring a woman who told him she was not due until X date and the scan was wrong.
Hi Aileen
Welcome!It's hard to know what really went on at the time. In the rush of an emergency, with the baby's life in danger, who knows what happened. I do know, that things go wrong and that doesn't mean that malpractice occured, however in this case, something bad happened and because of the date issue, it became a malpracice case. The fact that the baby died may not have had anything to do with the premature birth. My feeling now, beyond my initial reaction is that we don't have the whole story. Good doctors make bad descisions sometimes. It's possible in this case if he looked at the chart and did not get a chance to talk to his patient. In Ireland there are so many residents involved in the patients care, sometimes the consultant doesn't do an indepth interview with the patient. In this case there may not have been time.I am glad you had a good experience. I can't imagine the hell that woman is going through. It is every parents nightmare.
Hey hon - you're neglecting us again, bad you :c\ No seriously just checking in to see if there's any news, hope you're feeling well and baby is now gigantic and getting ready to come out and see the world!
Hello!?!?!? Where are you!?!?!? Hoping things are going well...please check in and say HI!
Please update us when you can! I am assuming no news is good news...but still!!
Hey, girl, what are you up to these days???????
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