Consent before sweeps?

[starryeyed19]

Does anyone know if midwives are allowed to give women in labour sweeps without telling them what they are doing?

Of course not. They should seek informed consent for any procedure.

Mine did, she said she was checking how I was progressing and whatever she did hurt so much I burst into tears, she then said she'd done a sweep.

Absolutely not, as the pp said. Mine was very clear, and even after we'd got all set up, she'd got her gloves on and had a look and everything she still asked for a final verbal consent to go ahead and do the sweep, she was very careful to make sure I fully agreed to it.

I had a midwife do the exact same thing to me. She was supposed to be checking how far along I was and was basically elbow deep inside me as I was trying to crawl up the bed in agony. Once she’d given up I said I didn’t think an examination would hurt so much she then told me she’d “tried to give you a sweep” never asked for one she never said she was going to do one.

Mine said she was checking progress but did a sweep, it hurt so much I nearly kicked her

Mine did, I made a formal complaint in the end and she lost her job.

She said she was checking my dilation (even though I asked her to wait until my DH was back from parking the car) she was very forceful and pulled my legs apart whilst I was having a contraction quite literally rolled her eyes and stuck her sodding whole arm practically into me and said ‘I’ve done you a sweep’ after. I tried to crab crawl up the bed away from her whilst she was doing it and verbally asked her twice to stop and she had the vice like grip on my thigh and the sweep was agonising like literally so unbelievably painful and she looked me in the eyes whilst smirking the whole time.

She was the midwife manager as well, going up against her was daunting.

Inn a midwife - absolutely yes informed consent should be gained prior to any procedure.
I talk to women prior to a vaginal examination if I’m offering one to determine active labour and gain consent for a membrane sweep if they’re below 4 centimetres.
It’s never ok and in fact assault to preform a sweep without informed consent.

Well done, @snowball28 - that sounds horrific.

Thanks everyone. I've spoken to the midwife and let the relevant people know

@snowball28 That's horrendous! She should have been arrested, nevermind losing her job.

I had a sweep in early labour and it didn't hurt me at all. But you should be asked or told first.

Yes, of course. It’s the same as any other medical procedure when you’re not pregnant. It’s your body and your choice whether somebody else does anything to it.

Unfortunately a similar thread on here a while back had a significant minority of replies along the lines of ‘the midwife knows what she’s doing so you shouldn’t complain’

Mine did, she said she was going to break my waters & then did it, it was agony, I screamed the place down. I wouldn't let her near me after that.

When I was pregnant with first, I went in to be checked and turned out I was in slow labour when she checked my cervix it was 3cms dilated.

I ended up screaming and crying because she just randomly did a sweep on me with no warning or anything I had no idea what was going on just that it's was soo painful.

I make them known in advance now that I don't want a sweep at all.

I think I was violated that day.

Oh OP i hope tgis hasnt happened to you or anyone you know.

Its horrible having an unconcented sweep. I was 36+5, waters broke and was in an open ward (men were on this ward!) And the head MW came in and demanded she see how far along I was and I said I didn't want her to check as I thought I was progressing nicely and managing (I knew of I was only 2cms I wouldn't be happy in my head). Anyway she forced herself onto me (curtains not fully closed!) And saod she had the right to check otherwise how would she know when to move me down to the Labour ward. Whilst there she declared loudly I was only 2cm and carried on routing about. I started being sick with the pain she caused me and lost control of myself completely, my breathing went out of the window as I had a constant contraction for an age. My mum came back to ask what happened and MW said she done a sweep to help move things along and she said I needed to keep my noise down and control myself for the sake of the other patients. She kept shoving oramorph in my mouth which I kept just throwing back up. I the end, after it died down my contractions completely dried up so not sure she moved anything along actually.

It happened to me as well - it was a doctor, she was quite young and seemed nervous, which made it more surprising that she would be so cavalier. She asked me if she could check how dilated I was and then when she got her and up there she performed a sweep. Like a pp I was backing off up the bed as she applied more pressure and she asked me to stop moving, which I did, and then she did the sweep, which was more painful than the contractions. I complained about that and half a dozen other things, it took me two years to do it, but the complaints were all upheld. It is dehumanising, and it makes it very hard to deal with the pain of giving birth, when you're afraid you're going to be assaulted again at any moment.

I had sweeps with DS1 as he was 12 days late but it was always with consent and MW had discussed it with me on an earlier occasion so I knew exactly what it was. They absolutely shouldn't be doing it without informed consent. It is not an emergency procedure and there is no excuse for not taking the time to get consent

I would encourage anyone who has had a sweep without consent to complain, even after the fact. It is unacceptable and distressing and far too common. Making our voices heard may be the only way to stop this horrible practise.

There is absolutely no reason to excuse consent not being asked for. It's not an emergency and it's often not necessary.

No midwife should be performing sweeps without verbal consent. Ever.

No. It's assault without consent.

The law and all professional guidance is crystal clear on that.

Oh, and the law and professional guidance are both equally clear that compliance does not equal consent.

Consent must be freely given, informed, and capacitous otherwise it is not legally valid.

It's depressing how many staff in our wonderful NHS think assaulting their patients is a-ok.

Fucking shameful. Including their colleagues who stand by and let it happen.

I think this happened to me, the midwife said she was going to see how dilated I was and when she put her hand in she said I was 2cm and then it was incredibly painful and I screamed with the shock and she said she had moved her hand around the baby’s head, it didn’t feel right and I wouldn’t consent to being checked after that without them telling me exactly what they were going to do and what I should expect and they got really arsey with me.

Also after I’d given birth 2 male doctors came in the room, didn’t speak to me just stuck his finger in my Amy’s and wiggled it and then told the other doctor to stitch me up and I had to ask the midwife what was going on. I’ve been meaning to complain about that for 2 years and this thread has reminded me to get on to them.

Don’t why that says Amy’s should say anus

Never happened to me. I only had one internal examination when pregnant and found that very uncomfortable. Midwife did ask for consent.

They should seek verbal consent before doing anything, although mine checked me (which I consented to) and then did one without asking. It was my second child so I knew what it should feel like just being checked. It was uncomfortable to the point I wanted her to stop, but I thought she was still checking as she didn't say anything. When she'd done she said "I did you a sweep too". My husband said to me when she left the room that was a bit wrong not asking before. I wasn't too upset as I would have said yes anyway, I'd been having pains close together for hours and still wasn't in labour. If I didn't want a sweep I'd have been upset, she should have sought consent either way. She was a great midwife other than that so I wasn't going to complain.