Pregnant woman dies in UCHG after being refused a termination

Something should have been done to save that poor woman.

Id say the doctors were afraid to make the huge decision to end the pregnancy for fear of their careers.

Hannibal Smith wrote: »

Have you any idea the pain a miscarriage causes? you assume she was in mild discomfort? try picturing yourself in the worst physical pain possible, where your whole body feels like its on fire and your insides are actually gonna rot and that pain is only going to ease when the fetus passes. she had been going though her version for 3 days...how many more days would she have to endure it....when the baby was dying anyhow.

Most miscarriages have very little pain and can be utterly painless, in fact many women don't even realise they've had one.


But hey go for it with the melodrama, your description describes a very rare event......dramatically.

frfintanstack wrote: »

Most miscarriages have very little pain and can be utterly painless, in fact many women don't even realise they've had one.


But hey go for it with the melodrama, your description describes a very rare event......dramatically.

This poor lady suffered a miscarraige at 17weeks causing severe hemorrhage and severe pain causing hospitalisation

Whats your point??

Hannibal Smith wrote: »

Have you any idea the pain a miscarriage causes? you assume she was in mild discomfort? try picturing yourself in the worst physical pain possible, where your whole body feels like its on fire and your insides are actually gonna rot and that pain is only going to ease when the fetus passes. she had been going though her version for 3 days...how many more days would she have to endure it....when the baby was dying anyhow.

When did I assume she was in mild discomfort? I didn't actually say that at all and you just invented it out of thin air.

What I actually said was "At this point, it doesn't appear she was in abnormally huge pain." which is a perfectly acceptable description relatively speaking unless you consider the pain of a miscarriage to be equivalent to the the final stages of septicaemia. She initially presented with back pain which wasn't necessarily caused as a result of the miscarriage. Pain in the lower back is often one of the early symptoms of septicaemia.

Couple that with the emotions of knowing your baby is dying inside you...it would only be a matter of time before it died and you have to sit and wait. how mentally exhausting that all is.

What's even more mentally exhausting is realising you have septicaemia and seeing yourself deteriorate so rapidly. Being a dentist, even in the awful state she was in, i'm sure she would have had some idea of what has happening and her prognosis all the way through.

So never say 'just' when it comes to miscarriage it is a horrendous experience and if the laws were different in this country it may not have saved her from the sceptisima but it would have saved her from the awful trauma and spared her further anguish.

I didn't even use the word "just" in my post let alone make it out that miscarriage is a little thing

The Waltzing Consumer wrote: »

I have to agree that this "catholic" quote seems so strange. There is no real surprise that there is so much speculation about it. The image in my mind is some Irish doctor replying after being asked to be perform an abortion "no, this is a Catholic country" just does not sit right.

Is it possible the doctor was even not Irish? Is it possible as you say that when refusing to perform an abortion, the doctor was asked why we have strict laws and they simply stated the link between the predominant religion and abortion laws?

To be honest about it, there are doctors in this country that hide behind their religion: like the case of the woman who was denied the MAP by her doctor. And the fact that in Ireland they would carry out symphysiotomies when they could easily have carried out cesareans, because a cesarean can only be carried out a few times.
Religious beliefs are actually quite a scary influence on medical care - you should never be forced to undergo torturous procedures or to travel farther afield to seek medical aid for no good reason.

My take on this whole situation is this: my father is a farmer. If he had an animal miscarrying/in pain for any amount of time and he could see that the creature was in distress, he would call the vet and have the animal cared for.

What sort of medical professionals can leave any person: man, woman or child in such unnecessary pain for such a prolonged duration when they could have resolved it at the start? They told them at the start the foetus would not survive. Why drag out her pain and suffering? Even if she hadn't died, it is inhumane in the extreme to fail/refuse to use your medical expertise to resolve the situation as quickly as possible.

At the end of the day, if any government of the last 20 years had legislated properly, the doctors could not have denied her care on the "fear of being prosecuted" defence. It may not have saved her life, but then again it may have. I'd prefer to know that whoever is taking care of me would do their utmost to ensure I was not in pain or danger if it was within their ability.

SomethingElse wrote: »

Hey, I posted this earlier, but does anyone know how it took so long for this story to filter through to the media? According to the reports, the woman died in October. Was there an inquiry in the interim?

It seems to only have come to light because the husband decided to go to the press with it, and to be fair to him, presumably he had more immediate things on his mind for the last few weeks.

The other stories that have emerged on radio etc since would suggest that it's not an isolated occurrence, so it would seem that the media was either not previously aware of or willing to investigate and report on situations like it that have been occurring until now. So AFAIK, it wasn't so much a delay in the press breaking the story as it was that it took him a while to come forward with it.

Had he not done so, it would have been business as usual and we likely never would have known about it at all.

jill_valentine wrote: »

It seems to only have come to light because the husband decided to go to the press with it, and to be fair to him, presumably he had more immediate things on his mind for the last few weeks.

The other stories that have emerged on radio etc since would suggest that it's not an isolated occurrence, so it would seem that the media was either not previously aware of or willing to investigate and report on situations like it that have been occurring until now. So AFAIK, it wasn't so much a delay in the press breaking the story as it was that it took him a while to come forward with it.

Do you know if it originated in the Irish media or the international media?

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

Indian news isn't exactly holding back on this
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=81765677&postcount=2202

India would be better off getting its own house in order.

Clean drinking water.

Poverty.


Shanty towns.


Child labour laws.


But they do have a belter of a nuclear weapons program.:rolleyes:

partyatmygaff wrote: »

"Pain" cannot be a diagnosis. Pain is a symptom, not a condition.

As for "abnormally huge" it was the first term that came to me for describing a particularly high level of pain that still paled in comparison to the pain of advanced septicaemia.

No need to excuse yourself. Not having incredibly fragile sensibilities and being able to handle incredibly unorthodox terms like "abnormally huge pain" isn't for everyone after all

By diagnosis I was referring to the determination of a specific level of pain as in "abnormally huge" as opposed to say "abysmally little" for example

Hmmm So you are actually telling me its not a medical term :?

Out of interest are you a medical professional is the above a selection your own opinions?

My feeling is that the asking for a termination freaked the docs. If she and her husband had just asked for a second opinion instead , another doc might have done whatever was needed.
Its a sad case.

this story even made the paper today out here in New Plymouth which is really unusual for any non rugby related story