What can my sis do???LONG

[Rachelsmom]

My sister gave birth to my nephew at 22-23wks on march 1st. He lived for 2hrs. She is about 20wks pregnant now. Well, she went to the hospital last night because she was cramping and feeling funny. They treated her horribly! One nurse butted in when she was being checked by another and said she didn't even look pregnant (granted she is over weight but still!) and that made my sister soooo angry and she threw a pencil (not at anyone). So because of that they went ahead and took her to L&D. The L&D nurse used a little cuff to check her bp, my sis is a med asssistant and asked her to use a bigger one because she is overweight but the nurse said we'll see how this one works. Well, it popped off and she took it on her forearm and it was 150/72 and she said it was fine! She is on bp meds!!! Then this same nurse kept asking her about her miscarriage and she said I didn't have a miscarriage. I went into pre-term labor and gave birth at 22wks and he lived for 2hrs. Then the nurse had the nerve to say, you didn't take the baby home...so it was a miscarriage!!!!!!!!!!!:jaw Then to top off everything, when she was being discharged (because everything was fine thank goodness)the supervisor repremanded her for her behavior in the ER, saying it was inappropriate!! She called me this morning crying and to tell me that she is seeing her doc today. I called and made a complaint for her because she was still so upset and they are going to follow up with her. She is so scared of hospitals right now. They have no idea why she had Daniel so early so they are sticking her in high risk. I have told her to get a midwife and she had a homebirth midwifewhen she lived in Greenville, SC but now she is living in Aiken, SC. What can she do?? Thanks for reading...

[mommy2zander]

I am so sorry for the way your sister was treated. When I miscarried two years ago, the doctor who "was going to be" my OB told me it wasnt really a baby yet anyway and gave me a very rough pap. I was so hurt, both emotionally and physically, that I cried. Both over my loss and over her insensitivity. After a couple weeks I was able to call the hospital and file a formal complaint. They looked into it and called me back to say that I could have a formal apology from the doctor. I prefered to never hear her voice again, but my visit to her is no longer in my medical file, which leads me to believe that her write up may also have been rude. I was going to suggest that she (when/if she is emotionally able) or possibly you call and make a formal complaint. But you already have. Good job jumping in to help protect her. I hope that my feelings being made clear will at least make that OB/family practice doctor (who happened to also be a woman) be more aware of future patients feelings. And hopefully your sisters hospital/ER will follow through properly and appologise to her as well as treat her correctly in the future. Is it possible that a support person (friend/partner) could go with her to her future Dr visits?

I could go on and on about how this upsets me that she was treated so poorly (the comment to her weight, the use of the wrong size cuff, failure to respect her sons short life), but that wouldnt help much... :(

You have done the right thing to get the ball rolling calling to make a formal complaint, hopefully other woman here can give you more advice on what to do to help your sister through her fear of returning to the hospital for future prenatal care...

my thoughts and prayers are with your family.

jennifer
mommy to :heartbeat baby on the way 5/26