UK hospital apologizes after woman gives birth on floor

[Amby 490]

A pregnant woman in the U.K. was left unattended for hours and had to give birth on a hospital floor despite her desperate appeal for a bed.

Health board officials have apologized to Lynne Neilson, 36, whose baby started to arrive as she stood, still clothed, in an assessment room at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, a major teaching hospital in Scotland, after hours of waiting to be admitted. As the baby's head appeared, a midwife ran in just in time to put a paper mat on the floor and catch the baby, who had the umbilical cord around her neck.

Neilson and her husband Gavin filed an official complaint after the incident. The U.K.'s National Health Service in the Lothian region of Scotland, which oversees the hospital, is investigating the complaint and has apologized to the woman.

The couple had arrived at the hospital's Simpson Memorial Maternity Pavilion on the morning of Dec. 5, but went home when the labor pains slowed. They returned at 7 p.m. and were told to sit in the waiting room. As the contractions began to occur closer together, Gavin Neilson asked repeatedly for help until his wife, in pain and barely able to walk, was finally moved to an assessment room and examined by a midwife.

"She took control and put down a disposable mat on the floor," Lynne Neilson said, referring to the midwife. "She caught the baby –- I was standing up and she was born on to the floor. I was very relieved that the midwife had come, because we were panicking.”

Baby Orla was born about two-and-a-half hours after the Neilson's arrived at the hospital.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,473101,00.html

[Ban Hammer 13,352]

yay for nhc.

[Smallz 0]

My God!

Was that a busy day at the hospital that nobody could pay attention to a woman ir labor... Scary.

[john & jean 37]

YEAH, NOW THEY CAN MAKE A LARGE CONTRIBUTION TO THAT CHILDS COLLEGE FUND!!!!!!!!

[Welshcookie 17]

pfft.....I don't even want to go into my first birth within the NHS....but with the second baby I walked to the labour ward while the midwives 'handed over' and gave birth within minutes after hauling myself on the delivery bed....then with the 3rd child a private midwife took pity on me after delivering her clients baby after realising no one was actually going to attend to me, well, didn't have time to attend to me, to be fair.

[mox 298]

This isn't a problem with NHS, it's a problem that can and does happen anywhere. I have a cousin that's a nurse in a private hospital and she says it happens about every couple years, when they just so overloaded and understaffed that sometimes a patient slips through the cracks. It's not right, but it happens in private and public hospitals.

2 of my children were born under NHS about 75 miles from that hospital. The care she and the children received was top notch, and my wife wasn't pushed out of her bed 2 hours after giving birth. In fact they had her stay a full day, and that was with no complications.

Edited December 27, 2008 by mox

[JVKn'CVO 11]

Scary! what would have happened had there been complications?

Saludos,

Caro

[Smallz 0]

My cousin gave birth within the NHS and it was an amazing experience. The midwife was checkin on her every 20 minutes, was very attentive and even organized some breakfast for me The aftercare was great too.

I guess there are some cases when people face such a hard time, that they loose faith in NHS...

But with all that said, i think it's unforgivable to have this kind of situation...

[mox 298]

Scary! what would have happened had there been complications?

Meh. Women have been giving birth for thousands of years in worse conditions than a hospital floor. I think sometimes we worry too much about this process.

[Welshcookie 17]

This isn't a problem with NHS, it's a problem that can and does happen anywhere. I have a cousin that's a nurse in a private hospital and she says it happens about every couple years, when they just so overloaded and understaffed that sometimes a patient slips through the cracks. It's not right, but it happens in private and public hospitals.

2 of my children were born under NHS about 75 miles from that hospital. The care she and the children received was top notch, and my wife wasn't pushed out of her bed 2 hours after giving birth. In fact they had her stay a full day, and that was with no complications.

wow a full day! Midwifery,,,good Midwifery....struggles on the whole within the NHS... money is short.

[Welshcookie 17]

Scary! what would have happened had there been complications?

Meh. Women have been giving birth for thousands of years in worse conditions than a hospital floor. I think sometimes we worry too much about this process.

Meh...yeh....but did they pay as much through their taxes for social health care?

[JVKn'CVO 11]

Scary! what would have happened had there been complications?

Meh. Women have been giving birth for thousands of years in worse conditions than a hospital floor. I think sometimes we worry too much about this process.

While I do not agree with doctors handing out c-sections left and right like m&ms just to reduce their liability, the advances in medicine in this field have proven immensely beneficial to both mother and child. If you want a control sample, a friend of mine from college spent (I think it was 6?) months with an African tribe, the masaai, and told me that child mortality is so high that they do not name the children until they are 2 years old. Medical attention for the mother and new born has a lot to do with this difference.

If we are going to go by the "we've done without x for thousands of years and survived", we might as well do without antibiotics, anesthesia, asepsis....

Saludos,

Caro

[mox 298]

Scary! what would have happened had there been complications?

Meh. Women have been giving birth for thousands of years in worse conditions than a hospital floor. I think sometimes we worry too much about this process.

While I do not agree with doctors handing out c-sections left and right like m&ms just to reduce their liability, the advances in medicine in this field have proven immensely beneficial to both mother and child. If you want a control sample, a friend of mine from college spent (I think it was 6?) months with an African tribe, the masaai, and told me that child mortality is so high that they do not name the children until they are 2 years old. Medical attention for the mother and new born has a lot to do with this difference.

If we are going to go by the "we've done without x for thousands of years and survived", we might as well do without antibiotics, anesthesia, asepsis....

I agree with everything you've said. My point is that we tend to treat child birth as a more risky process than it actually is. Yes complications do happen, and thank god we have the facilities, experts, and advances that we have. But 999 out of 1,000 times (made up statistic) things work out just fine. So while this particular incident was inexcusable, the woman most likely wasn't in any danger anyway. It's much different than if someone with a heart condition had been ignored, for example. (which also happens, unfortunately.)

Edited December 27, 2008 by mox

[JVKn'CVO 11]

Saludos,

Caro

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

yay for nhc.

Change you can count on.