Effort made to lessen pain for mothers of stillborn babies, John Haggie says
Women who delivered stillborn babies say hospital protocol worsened emotional toll
Newfoundland and Labrador's health minister says his department has asked hospitals to accommodate the mothers of stillborn babies as much as possible, but acknowledges that more could be done.
At the Health Sciences Centre in St. John's, patients who deliver stillborn babies are kept on the same floor as moms and newborns.
Katelyn Short said that in 2014 she had to share a room with a woman who had delivered a healthy newborn.
"To be in the situation of losing a baby ... I have no way of processing that," Minister John Haggie said.
"The challenge that we got from a system point of view is that these ladies need a mix of obstetrical care and intensive emotional support."
In 2016, Haggie said his department directed the regional health authorities to accommodate women facing infant loss on gynecology wards, as much as possible.
"The challenge is the physical component sometimes needs skilled staff. You may only find on an obstetric unit. There's no perfect solution for this. It's just an awful situation under any circumstance."
Gynecology, however, is still on the same floor as obstetrics — 5 North B.
Bring in the midwives
Haggie said the introduction of midwives — who provide prenatal and postnatal care, as well as care during births — would help in these situations.
"These are people who have that level of expertise who bridge the physical side and the emotional side, and who can provide that level of support," Haggie said.
The province is endeavouring to introduce midwives to the province, but there is no immediate date for when that will begin.
Simply put, Haggie said there is no magic solution to help these women.
"There is never going to be an easy way for someone to come to terms with a loss of a baby under these circumstances. It just doesn't happen. It's a grief reaction," he said.
Rhonda McMeekin, who delivered her daughter Everlee Rose stillborn in 2013, said it's clear how little thought is put into the mental health of women who have experienced loss.
"The psychologist that is responsible for dealing with women who've gone through loss, the women's health psychologist, her office is directly across from the case room," McMeekin said in an interview with CBC News.
"When you sit and wait for your appointment, you're sitting looking in through the window where families are waiting for babies to be born. And I'm six years out from my loss, and when I go to my appointments there I still have panic attacks because that is a trigger for me."
Since CBC first aired the story on Tuesday, several other men and women have spoken about their own troubling experiences in the health care system.
After having a life-saving hysterectomy I was also placed in a room with a new mom and her baby. My dream of having another child was gone and I was devastated. The nurses were fantastic to me and moved the other woman to a different room. I was fortunate that it was an option.
—@rowsell_darleneI was a mom of a new baby in the room w/ a mom whose baby was stillborn. I sobbed/desperately begged my newborn to stop crying all night. Knowing that mother had to hear my daughter cry was unbearable for me. I can't imagine how unbearable it was for her. This needs to change.
—@sarahflemingNLHaggie acknowledges that the health care system as a whole needs to find a better way to integrate mental health and emotional support into physical care.
"To be perfectly honest it's very difficult to shelter people from these kind of things. What you can do is really manage the process as best you can."
With files from the St. John's Morning Show
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