Mum 'forced to hold baby in biohazard bag' during harrowing miscarriage experience
A mum claims she was forced to hold her dead baby in a biohazard bag in a hospital waiting room, which has left her traumatised.
Nikkole Southwell, from Queensland, Australia was 12 weeks pregnant when she tragically lost her child as a result of a miscarriage in April.
The Fernvale woman alleges that Ipswich Hospital paramedics placed the fetus into a biohazard bag on the way to the hospital.
Nikkole claims she was left in a waiting room with a biohazard bag holding her dead baby.
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The heartbroken mother also says she was treated on a hospital bed marked with another patient’s blood.
Meanwhile, staff allegedly used her partner's phone torch instead of the proper medical equipment, Nikkole claims.
"I lost my baby and my dignity was taken," she told the Courier-Mail. "I felt like my baby meant nothing while it sat in the top of my handbag in a biohazard bag for all to see.
"I want to ensure that women right across Queensland have access to appropriate and compassionate care."
Health Minister Shannon Fentiman has called it 'a heartbreaking situation' and has ordered a review.
"I want to extend my deepest sympathies to Ms Southwell and her family," Fentiman said. "There is a review under way, and I look forward to receiving all recommendations from the review."
Liberal National health spokesperson Ros Bates said that 'any family to go through the loss of a child in such circumstances is shocking'.
"Those poor doctors and nurses at Ipswich Hospital which has been under-resourced for years. That ED ... that looks like a war zone - it needed to be upgraded years ago," Bates said.
"Certainly, there has to be an analysis of what happened. There will be a root cause analysis done, and the hospital will conduct an investigation as to whether or not they need to change their processes to ensure that that doesn’t happen again."
West Moreton Health chief executive Hannah Bloch said the review is expected to take around 30 days.
"We are truly sorry to hear of Nikkole’s experience with our service here at Ipswich Hospital’s emergency department," she said.
"It is taken extremely seriously and we offer our apologies for the experience that Nicole has had within our service.
"Compassionate care is something that we strive to achieve and to hear on this occasion that has not been Ms Southwell’s experience is very upsetting."
Tyla has contacted Ipswich Hospital for comment.
If you have experienced a bereavement and would like to speak with someone in confidence, contact Cruse Bereavement Care via their national helpline on 0808 808 1677
Anish Vij