UPDATE (1.35pm): In response to MS News‘ queries, NUH said they’re currently investigating the case.
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Pregnancies are a beautiful thing. But things can feel a little scary when going into labour as soon-to-be parents would normally worry about the well-being of the mother and baby.
On Monday (21 Mar), a man recounted the painful experience of losing his baby after a 2-hour wait at the Accident and Emergency (A&E) department of National University Hospital.
He alleged that they were not attended to promptly at the hospital even as his wife, who was 36 weeks pregnant, was bleeding profusely.
When doctors and nurses eventually checked on her, the couple was told their baby had passed away. Sharing his experience, the man hopes it would help prevent a repeat of such incidents in the future.
According to the Facebook post, the man’s wife started bleeding profusely from the birth canal at about 9.30pm on 15 Mar.
Immediately, the man called for an ambulance. Within 10 minutes, paramedics arrived at the scene and conveyed her to the hospital.
They arrived at the hospital’s A&E at around 10.30pm. Soon after, the man received a message that he would be getting patient updates via message.
The paramedics then informed the nurse on duty about his wife’s condition.
Subsequently, the nurse came by to set up a monitoring device and checked her vital signs but left after.
Despite still bleeding profusely, his wife was left to wait in the A&E department.
The man elaborated that no one came to check on his wife for the entire wait of about 2 hours. They were also not informed that there was no bed in the maternity ward.
After the 2-hour wait, his wife was finally brought to the hospital’s maternity ward. It was already 12.48am at this time.
Doctors and nurses immediately checked on her when she arrived at the ward.
However, they found that while the baby’s heart structure was intact, there was no longer a fetal heartbeat. Their baby had passed away.
The man questioned why there was a 2-hour time-lapse between his wife reaching the A&E department and getting attended to.
After all, he said, excessive loss of blood is a life-threatening situation for anyone, let alone a pregnant lady.
Acknowledging that this was a regrettable incident, the man said he couldn’t stop thinking if his baby could have been saved if his wife had been attended to promptly.
In his Facebook post, the man attached a heartwrenching photo of a coffin with a white teddy bear strapped to it.
Concluding his post, he said he was sharing his experience, hoping that it doesn’t happen to anyone else again.
The Facebook post later went viral, garnering over 1,700 shares at the time of writing.
MS News has reached out to the hospital for more information about the incident.
This was an extremely unfortunate and saddening experience. No one could have predicted things would turn out this way.
While acknowledging that hospitals would sometimes face overwhelming pressure with many patients, it is also vital that each patient gets the care they need.
Hopefully, the hospital will look into the incident to ensure that no one else will be deprived of the care they might require in the future.
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Featured image adapted from Mee Pok Tah on Facebook.
The authorities have investigated and closed the incident with no follow-ups required, MFA said.
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