I also find it all part of our culture/sociteies lack of reflection of what we see as safe childbirth, to interfere with a natural part of life in other more "primitive" cultures and turn it into a medical event and note ask the larger questions even as part of such a disaster which should have been a joyful and triumphant occasion!
And not ask why our women have so much trouble and need to go to a hospital to birth there is no physiological difference between them and those who birth at home ? So how can some do it at home be healthy, proud and happy whilst others have to resort to having many needles, procedures and drugs in many ways, and still not be happy or healthy??. Hospitals are full of resistant bactereia so surely that is not the place to birth, to have all our most vulenerable?? Denise ----- Original Message ----- From: "Andrea Robertson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Tuesday, March 09, 2004 10:54 PM Subject: [ozmidwifery] Disturbing report in the SMH > This article is in today's Sydney Morning Herald. There is no mention of > the reason for the caesarean, which would have been interesting. > > This kind of tragedy highlights the potential effects of epidurals and the > appalling "loss of the notes" that goes on. > ----------------------- > > > Misdiagnosis that led to mother's death 'defies belief' > > By Natasha Wallace > March 10, 2004 > > A woman died of an epidural abscess after doctors at Prince of Wales > Private Hospital and at two regional hospitals made hurried diagnoses and > then failed to take responsibility for her postnatal care, a coroner's > court was told yesterday. > > Handing down his findings into the death of Caroline Anderson, the deputy > state coroner, Carl Milovanovich, said it defied belief that she died after > an uneventful caesarean birth. > > Ms Anderson, 37, of Warren in central-western NSW, died on May 5, 2001, > less than a month after giving birth, when an epidural abscess burst, > spreading the infection to her brain and resulting in bacterial meningitis. > > Ms Anderson's husband, Evan Jones, has been left to care for their > children, Digby, now two, Basil, six, and Claudia, seven. > > Doctors at Prince of Wales Private, Warren District and Dubbo Base > hospitals failed to diagnose Ms Anderson's condition, despite her severe > leg and back pain, headaches and fever. > > Instead, she was misdiagnosed as having mechanical back pain, sacroiliitis, > mastitis, even an overdose of pain-killers. > > Of the three doctors who considered an epidural abscess, none ordered an > MRI scan, the only way to rule it out. > > Mr Milovanovich told Dubbo Coroner's Court: "Each of the doctors who > treated or saw Caroline was hasty in reaching a diagnosis and felt > comfortable with the notion that any major problem would be picked up by > someone else down the track. Not one doctor accepted a global > responsibility for Caroline." > > He said Ms Anderson's gynaecologist at Prince of Wales, Dr John Grey, was > responsible for her overall postnatal care and "should have realised that > something was seriously wrong". > > He has referred the matter to the Health Care Complaints Commission. > > A week after being discharged from Prince of Wales on April 17, Ms Anderson > was taken to Dubbo Base with severe back pain, but her admitting doctor, > Michael Ferres, forgot to see her, which Mr Milovanovich described as "a > major departure from accepted medical practice". > > A medical registrar, Patrick Groenstein, who diagnosed Ms Anderson with > sacroiliitis on April 26, was "the last medical practitioner who had an > opportunity to make decisions in regard to her diagnosis and treatment at a > time when appropriate medical intervention may well have saved her life", > Mr Milovanovich said. > > Dr Groenstein said he could not find her records at the time - his notes > have also since gone missing - and did not consult the emergency > specialist, Jamie Christie, who had ordered blood tests because he thought > Ms Anderson had a 30 per cent chance of having an abscess. > > Dr Christie did not record the diagnosis of an epidural abscess, which Mr > Milovanovich said was a "grave omission". He was disturbed by the "too > regular incident of notes, either taken or purportedly taken, being lost". > > Outside court yesterday, Mr Jones said his wife's death would be "a comedy > of errors if it wasn't so tragic". > > "The lack of record-keeping was a thread which ran through her entire > management," he said. > > Her anaesthetist at Prince of Wales, Dr Clive Collier, admitted at the > inquest to filling in her medical records four days after her death. > > Mr Jones said the Health Care Complaints Commission told him yesterday Ms > Anderson's case would be made a priority and an investigative team had been > established. > > A coronial investigator, Detective Sergeant Michael O'Rourke, said it was > "clear from the coroner's findings today that tragically Caroline Anderson > seems to have fallen through the cracks". > > Mr Jones has brought civil actions against the hospitals and doctors in the > Supreme Court. > > It remains unclear whether Ms Anderson contracted the golden staph bacteria > at Prince of Wales Private, although one expert told the inquest it was > "likely". > > ----------------------- > > > ----- > Andrea Robertson > Birth International * ACE Graphics * Associates in Childbirth Education > > e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > web: www.birthinternational.com > > > -- > This mailing list is sponsored by ACE Graphics. > Visit <http://www.acegraphics.com.au> to subscribe or unsubscribe. > -- This mailing list is sponsored by ACE Graphics. 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