To feel absolutely sick to my stomach about this story

[MissyCooper]

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-46535996

Clearly I’m not unreasonable. I can completely see how this could happen.

What they can do to prevent it happening again, in a time of staff shortages and pressures...I can’t answer that.

That poor, poor woman and her poor family.

Hospital security isn't great. That area should have been locked off. I remember an incident where I worked where a patient got lost and ended up on the the roof!

When my DD was in NICU I wasn't allowed out to see her without being accompanied. In fact no one was available to accompany me for the first day which was very annoying, but on reflection, I am glad that they had this rule. Poor woman!

What a terrible event. I can’t imagine how her family must be suffering right now. I think so much of this is evidence of the way women’s health issues are dismissed. People say all the time that pregnancy isn’t an illness, and it isn’t, but it can cause very real illnesses and complications, as can birth. I think the expectation that women should be up and looking after themselves and a baby just after giving birth is ridiculous. I feel the same when I see threads on here about women going through menopause who are basically told by their doctors to just deal with it. People are happy to speak up and pass legislation on women’s bodies when it comes to abortion, but when it comes down to the very real needs associated with reproductive health, no one is bothered.

My son was born early due to complications with pre eclampsia and I had headaches after his birth to the point that I was delerious and confused but the staff didn't seem to care when I told them I was going to the NICU or that I was back and it wasn't noted down, they just assumed I was at the NICU.
It was scary as I nearly passed out in the showers but no one knew I was there because they didn't listen.
This was a different hospital but the problems are the same. Simple things like signing mother's in and out of wards and locking unused areas could have possibly save this women's life

Such a tragedy, so sad for her family.
I can see how this could happen so easily. When hospitals treat women as subsidiary patients or carers, people who don’t fit within a standard range of delivery are lost as the expectations are so unrealistic if you are actually ill enough to be a patient. We don’t give birth that often so the whole thing is unfamiliar, and when ill or disoriented you don’t question.
When my DS was born, he was in NICU but fine after a few days, I was ill with abruption, blood loss, 4th degree tear, spinal headache and extra surgeries which had complications. I was told I had to get out of bed, and walk to a room to sterilise bits of breast pump. I had to walk holding onto the wall, couldn’t see properly due to the headache, and was found by a midwife having slid down the wall. I was also expected to walk to the NICU after the first day, where the nurses were initially sniffy with me as they didn’t know I was so ill so hadn’t been visiting DS even though his dad was there. One nurse walked me back from NICU once because she must have seen I couldn’t do it on my own, but there weren’t formal checks.

There is a general lack of respect for new mums and babies in our culture

I got lost recently in a hospital where my child was being treated, I was told to go down to a recovery room. Very loose directions.

I was ranting about this to my DH last night but he doesn't get it.

I was pretty disgusted how some ill mums were treated on my post natal ward. Problem is I saw them as ill and needing at least sympathy if not care but they were treated like they were on top form! I hobbled round putting drinks within reach or they were whisked away untouched. I can only imagine the poor soul trying to find her baby.

TitusAndromedon, well put.

Horrendous. Poor woman

I collapsed in the shower room after my first and had haemorraghing twice. Normal pregnancies.

I think so much of this is evidence of the way women’s health issues are dismissed. People say all the time that pregnancy isn’t an illness, and it isn’t, but it can cause very real illnesses and complications, as can birth

Couldn’t agree more Titus. After I gave birth to my first child I was a wreck, physically and mentally. I had never been more vulnerable or in need of care. I didn’t get it.

I think NHS postnatal wards have a very toxic, hands-off culture where women are expected to get on with the business of caring for their newborns regardless of how difficult their births have been, whether they’ve suffered tears and/or instrumental deliveries, whether they’ve had surgery, whether they haven’t slept a wink in three days... Women who struggle and ask for help are sneered at or ignored (I’ve seen it - I’ve lived it). Once the birth is over, the health and well-being of the mother is considered secondary to the health of the baby. Even women who post on MN about bad birth experiences get responses along the lines of “Be grateful that your baby is OK”. Mothers matter too.

When hospitals treat women as subsidiary patients or carers, people who don’t fit within a standard range of delivery are lost as the expectations are so unrealistic if you are actually ill enough to be a patient.

Yes!

I don’t even need to open the story to know what it is, I’ve been think about this poor family all night. Sadly it shines a light on how disjointed the care of mother and baby is when both are poorly. When I was in hdu and later back on maternity ward all the midwives seemed to do was gripe about the scbu doctors to me, I was very ill and scbu was a distance away 3 floors down, my DH had to search the hospital for a wheel chair to get me there, I used to miss meals and medication as the ward wasn’t set up for me being elsewhere. No one knew where I was. There needs to be an overhaul of keeping sick mothers and babies together. I was once left waiting in a corridor for over an hour late at night apparently forgotten about. Sadly I am in no way surprised at this story. I just feel so sorry for them

This is so flipping awful. DS was in NICU, and I had to wander around to see him from very early on. I was unwell myself, needing a blood transfusion, and ended up collapsing (luckily for me, it happened in NICU).

I had all three of my DCs at ERI. It's a bit of a maze. I was hospitalised pre-birth with two of them and the ante natal care was great, but post natal, not so much.
Poor woman and poor baby Murray.

All of these stories, all similar experiences. So sad. But let’s face it women’s health doesn’t matter, we’re just expected to push out babies easily, we’re not allowed to talk about difficult births in case it scares someone, we’re not allowed to mention lifelong physical or mental damage/trauma from having a very bad birth as “you’ve only had a baby” “all that matters is the baby is well now” etc. I’m sad to say in the 21st century deep down women are still seen as vessels whose worth lies in bringing the next generation into the world.

R.I.P. and heartfelt condolences to her family and friends. Really heart-breaking.

We don't know the circumstances, but one can't help wondering if this was preventable.

Poor woman. Poor baby. I was just expected to get on with it post birth.

These stories are horrendous. Despite being wheelchaired to the ward no one thought to bother about me. I didn’t realise I wouldn’t be brought food. My ward was the furthest away from the food. The midwives in the delivery suite were great. A completely different story on the ward.

I’d left my crutches at home as I was ambulanced to hospital. Not wanting to cause a fuss I shuffled just into the line of sight of the woman doing the food and she signalled she’d bring me food. I was so grateful. The loo was also several metres away and a big struggle to get to.

Listening to Jeremy vine talk about this. Some how he seems to be making this about dementia/old people missing the whole maternal health angle

Yes, Deadbudgie, I was just listening to a bit of that, too. It seemed rather bizarre to suggest that the problem is the complicated layout of hospitals, rather than the clear reality that this woman was let down as a patient in her own right.

after the birth of my dd, she was transferred to NICU but my bed was on another floor at the other end of the hospital. 6 hours after birth, during the night, they phoned for me to go down to feed her. No staff were available to take me so I walked down myself. I collapsed at the entrance of NICU my blood pressure was through the floor and I was bleeding heavily. They then realised I had retained placenta.
If I had been in a quieter part of the hospital I could have easily lay unconscious bleeding out. Luckily I was found quickly and treated immediately.

I think NHS postnatal wards have a very toxic, hands-off culture where women are expected to get on with the business of caring for their newborns regardless of how difficult their births have been

DD2 has just the other week had her DD1 and she said that the care she received couldn't have been better, there is think a very fine balance between leaving the woman to get on with it and excessive intervention.

Course some maternity units are better than others the same can be said for hospitals in general.

I had all three of my DCs at ERI. It's a bit of a maze. I was hospitalised pre-birth with two of them and the ante natal care was great, but post natal, not so much.

I had two of mine there and yep, same experience. With my first I had instrumental delivery and was in a side room. Had had epidural but no catheter and buzzed and buzzed for someone to help me to the toilet. Ended up crawling over to it because I couldn't feel my legs very well. Pretty much left on my own. Discharged and come to find out I had an infection the home midwife spotted and a fever so wound up back in.

With the second I was lucky enough to have a quick delivery in the morning and elected to just leave off the delivery suite.

FIL passed away there last month, different unit, obviously, and it was like a total maze in there.

'On line of inquiry' according to STV news is she had a stroke or brain haemorrhage and given that she had pre-eclampsia and was still experiencing headaches 4 days after the birth she should never have been left to make her way out of that unit alone.

I think NHS postnatal wards have a very toxic, hands-off culture where women are expected to get on with the business of caring for their newborns regardless of how difficult their births have been

Very true (although my experience wasn't NHS). I felt my coccyx break in labour but I was refused an x-ray and told I was making a fuss. As soon as I was discharged I paid for an x-ray which confirmed a fracture. Post natal health was just not important on the ward.

Poor poor woman.

I've had both my kids in that hospital and it's honestly shocking. With my second I was ambulanced back in 3 days later with a suspected DVT and left in a corridor for 6hrs when I developed PE and they FINALLY rushed me to HDU. I had the pleasure of then getting to go back to the maternity ward because I was feeding DD and that absolutely confirmed to me they'd treat cattle better than they treat post partum mothers. I had to get family to bring me in food because I kept missing it due to being at scans etc, and the food I did get was utterly inedible, in 2 weeks I'd lost all my baby weight and was looking skeletal. On the ward I saw all sorts, a woman post surgery whose partner was kicked out within an hour and had to fend for herself, a woman in labour after being induced screaming in pain whilst the new babies cried through the night. A baby who was withdrawing from herion who screamed nonstop like a seagul, the mother went missing one night for a good few hours and came back completely out of it, was feeding the baby in bed and dozing off so I pressed the emergency button and no one came- I had to get up and take the baby off her before she dropped the poor mite. Disgusting shared toilets that are not cleaned to the standard they should be considering the aftermath of childbirth.

I begged for a private room as DD was 2 weeks old and trying to recover and sleep between your own baby crying plus 3 others is impossible. For a night or two- almost doable- but for two weeks? In the end I parted with my DD, gave up breastfeeding and was moved to a normal ward. This broke my heart but the difference in treatment was absolutely night and day. I was treated like an actual patient who was ill and needed to recover instead of a baby making machine who needs no food, no sleep, and no common courtesy.

THAT is the problem in a nutshell, we are not seen as patients on maternity wards. It's a holding pen nothing more.

A baby who was withdrawing from herion who screamed nonstop like a seagul,

Poor poor child!, this place sounds like hell on Earth:(