Female sailor sues Aussie Navy for failing to detect pregnancy

[Saddle Bronc 124]

http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/national/sailor-sues-royal-australian-navy-for-failing-to-detect-her-unwanted-pregnancy/story-e6freooo-1226123150218

Sailor sues Royal Australian Navy for failing to detect her unwanted pregnancy

Shelley Hadfield 2011/08/27

LAWSUIT: Naval recruits in a graduation parade at HMAS Cerberus, where the complainant was serving when she became pregnant. Source: Herald Sun

A SAILOR wants the Federal Government to help fund the cost of raising her child after defence medical staff repeatedly failed to detect her pregnancy.

Emily Hetherington, now 22, claimed that if they had detected the pregnancy she would not have proceeded with it, according to documents lodged with the Supreme Court of Victoria.

She did not find out about her condition until she was 22 weeks pregnant, at which stage she was advised it was too late to have an abortion.

Ms Hetherington has launched legal action against the Commonwealth of Australia (Department of Defence), claiming it was negligent.

Ms Hetherington was already pregnant when she enlisted with the Royal Australian Navy in January 2008.

But, she claims in court documents, a pregnancy test during her medical examination in Hobart at that time was reported to be negative.

Ms Hetherington said while at HMAS Cerberus in Victoria she told medical staff in January, March and April, while receiving vaccinations, that she had not had her period since the previous November or December. Despite that, no further pregnancy tests were done.

It seems to me that Hetherington could have asked for later induction.

After fainting during training, Ms Hetherington claimed she told staff at the HMAS Cerberus health care centre that she was suffering nausea in the mornings, was tired and had gained weight, but still no follow-up pregnancy test was done.

In her statement of claim, Ms Hetherington said a serum pregnancy test should have been carried out when she enlisted.

In June, 2008, a test was done on the blood taken when Ms Hetherington enlisted and it was discovered she had been six to seven weeks' pregnant at that time. Her child was born in August, 2008.

Ms Hetherington, now of NSW, said she suffered an injury because she had to go through the pregnancy and labour.

She said her career had been adversely affected, she had suffered psychological trauma and her training and progress had been affected, along with her earning capacity.

In court documents, it was alleged the Department of Defence owed her a duty of care to provide her with medical care of a similar standard to that provided to the wider Australian population.

She is seeking a trial by judge alone. The writ is yet to be served on Defence.

The Department of Defence media office said it could not respond to the claims until next Wednesday.

[luckytxn 2,265]

[nane1104 146]

WOW, I am not sure what to say..

Instead of only blaming the Navy for not detecting her pregnancy, maybe she should have been more proactive, buy a pregnancy test of her own or go to the doctor, tell him about her suspected pregnancy and get a bloodtest done.

She just dropped hints (missed periods, nauseas, weightgain) but there is no mention of her saying "Hey guys, I think I am pregnant, I need a test done". It's really not that difficult, even in the military unless the Aussie Navy is operating totally differently.

Now I wonder how the kid is doing...

[slim 1,533]

Yet another reason why women shouldn't be in the military.

[The_Dude 1,142]

Yet another reason why women THIS WOMANshouldn't be in the military.

Fixed to reflect reality, not ignorant misogyny.

[slim 1,533]

Fixed to reflect reality, not ignorant misogyny.

I'm guessing you've based your opinion on all that time you spent in the military.

My opinion is based on nothing other than my own personal beliefs..... and several years in the military.

[keysjangle 145]

Like Nane said, unless this girl is totally ignorant to the most basic signs of pregnancy she should have done a test herself.

Hmmmm.... no periods and I'm sick all the time... must be stress LOLZ

[DeeDee&Sam 68]

Like Nane said, unless this girl is totally ignorant to the most basic signs of pregnancy she should have done a test herself.

Hmmmm.... no periods and I'm sick all the time... must be stress LOLZ

well im sorry to say this but i had period every 28 days and i wasnt sick at all and i was still pregnant in 3.5 months and had no clue about it. same happened to someone else i know. sometimes the doctors just fail

[keysjangle 145]

That's pretty different from what she had though. I sympathize with you, and that phenomenon is always a "what if" in the back of my head post-coitus. You would have had no reason to test because nothing seemed wrong, like on that "I didn't know I was pregnant" TV show. My cousin got pregnant while on the pill, so trust me I know things can get bizarre.

But for real she had the classic symptoms that would set off alarm bells in the head of any sexually active woman.

[DeeDee&Sam 68]

That's pretty different from what she had though. I sympathize with you, and that phenomenon is always a "what if" in the back of my head post-coitus. You would have had no reason to test because nothing seemed wrong, like on that "I didn't know I was pregnant" TV show. My cousin got pregnant while on the pill, so trust me I know things can get bizarre.

But for real she had the classic symptoms that would set off alarm bells in the head of any sexually active woman.

yep, you're right about that. skimmed the text and missed the part where she was saying she had the symptoms. however, when i found out i was pregnant, it was because i took a pregnancy test cause my boobs were huge and i was gaining weight lol

@slim: you're right about that, but not because she's a woman tho, but because if she chose to protect her country, she should have chosen to protect her own child as well, not flush it out. i'm not a "pro choice" supporter, and ill never be. smells like she needed a reason to get money from governmet, since being in military and having a child would give her help from the state anyway

[slim 1,533]

@slim: you're right about that, but not because she's a woman tho, but because if she chose to protect her country, she should have chosen to protect her own child as well, not flush it out. i'm not a "pro choice" supporter, and ill never be. smells like she needed a reason to get money from governmet, since being in military and having a child would give her help from the state anyway

If she was a guy this never would've happened.

[keysjangle 145]

If she was a guy this never would've happened.

hindsight is always 20/20

[The_Dude 1,142]

I'm guessing you've based your opinion on all that time you spent in the military.

My opinion is based on nothing other than my own personal beliefs..... and several years in the military.

Didn't you at one point say you were discharged for some sort of misconduct?

[slim 1,533]

hindsight is always 20/20

No, I'm pretty sure we could've applied some foresight to this.

Didn't you at one point say you were discharged for some sort of misconduct?

Sure did. Does that make my perspective any more ignorant than yours?

[DeeDee&Sam 68]

If she was a guy this never would've happened.

*points at Thomas Beatie* LOL