Shelagh Fogarty speechless at caller's shocking hospital experience
30 September 2020, 16:30 | Updated: 30 September 2020, 16:32
Shelagh Fogarty speechless at caller's shocking hospital experience
Shelagh Fogarty branded this caller's shocking hospital experience "beyond belief" after she was totally ignored which nearly led to catastrophic results during the delivery of her first baby.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer told the Commons in Prime Minister's Questions today that black women in the UK are almost five times more likely to die in childbirth than white women.
Caller Deborah told Shelagh of her terrible hospital experience five years ago when she was admitted before the delivery of her first child.
Firstly, her blood pressure was checked but her heart was racing and it was only when her mother insisted they check again, they found her blood pressure was extremely high.
They admitted her and while she had gone to the bathroom that evening, she returned and all her things had been moved into a private room. No one told her why this had happened and when nurses came in to check on her they were wearing protective clothing, similar to coronavirus equipment now.
Still, no one would tell her why they were isolating her like this, until finally, after Deborah begged a nurse while in tears, they told her they suspected she had ebola.
She told the nurse she had not been out of the country in five years and, again, was dismissed. It was only when the doctor came back in in the morning, he asked why they were still treating her like this when the ebola test result came back negatively "ages ago."
Deborah then had to be induced and knew something was not right as she was contracting non-stop without even being dilated.
"The hardest bit is not being believed and the words you're saying aren't computing," she told Shelagh, adding that the nurse just kept asking her to "stop making noise, you're disturbing everyone else."
Five hours after she was induced the nurse said, "Oh my god, everything is swollen up. You're actually allergic."
Shelagh was flabbergasted, "This is beyond belief."
The final, and worst, part happened after her long labour when she had to have a forceps delivery.
Deborah's partner, an anaesthetist and the nurses were in the room and Deborah told them repeatedly she could still feel her legs moments before she was cut open - but the medics did not listen.
"Again I was being dismissed, until my partner said to the anaesthetist 'she really can feel you touching her leg' and it was the anaesthetist that said 'you're about to cut her you have to stop'," Deborah said.
"Because a man had spoken to him!" exclaimed Shelagh, "That makes me angry. You said it four times and he only reacted when the man had said it. That makes me very angry."
