Pregnant Woman in Australia Gets a Visit from the Pitocin Police
Friday, January 15, 2010 at 12:03PMVia The Daily Telegraph:
A HOSPITAL that wants a mother to have her baby induced sent police to her home after she failed to keep an appointment yesterday.
Rochelle Allan, who is reluctant to be induced even though her baby is 12 days overdue, was told by the hospital they intended to go ahead with the procedure when she came in.
But after speaking to her midwife following a visit to the hospital the day before, and being assured her baby was fine, she decided not to attend the hospital the next day.
Now Ms Allan is furious after the two police officers arrived on her doorstep after they were called by Bathurst Hospital.
Wanting a home birth, Ms Allan, 24, has been under the care of a private midwife and had been attending the hospital daily to monitor the baby’s health.
“I couldn’t believe it when I saw the police officers at my door,” Ms Allan said.
“They told me they had been asked by the hospital to check on my welfare because I had not attended.
“The hospital knew I did not want to be induced and they gave me no medical reason why I should be.”
Throughout her pregnancy, Ms Allan and her partner Daniel Jones have been regularly attending the hospital’s antenatal clinic for mandatory tests and scans to monitor the baby’s progress. A hospital spokeswoman confirmed police were sent to Ms Allan’s house to conduct a “welfare check”.
The spokeswoman said doctors were worried about the mother as she had previously complied with all appointments.
The article also stated that by late yesterday, Allan’s labor had begun and she was at home with her midwife.
Reader Comments (15)
(insert mildly funny M&M commercial here) They do exist!
I live in Finland (born and raised) where I also gave birth to my son almost exactly a year ago. I was 11 days overdue when he was finally born. The hospitals don't even give you an "overdue appointment" until you are at least 14 days overdue, and that's when they only start talking about inducing labor (at least with normal, uneventful pregnancies). Mothers are encouraged to stay at home for as long as they possible feel comfortable with and bath tubs are available at most hospitals. My midwife even gave me acupressure! Vaginal birth is strongly recommended and supported.
We are moving to the US (my husband is American) within a year and I really hope I will get pregnant with our second child soon so that I can give birth here. I am genuinely scared of giving birth in the States.
Wow. So do they do that for ALL patients who routinely show up for appointments, but then miss one? Wouldn't a phone call have been easier?
Wait, so she went into labor ALL ON HER OWN? Without the hospital pumping her full of artificial oxytocin? How in the world did that happen? </sarcasm>
I hope that whoever called the police gets a new arsehole torn for wasting police time!
Can you imagine doing to the math on wasted Australian tax dollars in the past 12 months birth issues? Between police visiting pregnant women's homes "just in case" and the ridiculous legislation that violates civil rights and got the Aus. government gobs of bad press, I really wonder how much time and money is being wasted by people in positions of power who are unwilling to let birth JUST HAPPEN.
Just try saying "No!" once you are already on their turf.
At what point did pregnant women become obligated to "comply" with the medical industry's management of birth? The word "complied" used by the hospital spokeswoman totally makes it sound as if she has to fulfill some sentence- as if being pregnant is a crime and she had followed through with their ruling up until she didn't show-up to be induced. Why can't the medical establishment just respect a baby's need to finish it's INDIVIDUAL gestational duration?
This is ridiculous, but it seems like there's an increasing trend in law enforcement and the court system being used to intimidate pregnant women, and in some cases to force them to go along with medical procedures against their wishes. Some hospitals and healthcare providers will attempt to use child protective services for the same thing. It's just another way of implying that a woman loses her human rights and control over her own body once she is carrying a baby.
The article also makes reference to "mandatory" tests, of which, to my knowledge, do not even exist. Recommended tests can all be declined. The wording creates the impression that declining tests and (ultrasound) scans during pregnancy is illegal, which is not the case at all. It's very misleading.
Knitted in the Womb, exactly. Typical protocol for concerned care providers or office staff for a missed appointment is a PHONE CALL, not the police. This seems to have everything to do with home birth politics in Australia right now.
wow I am currently 15 days "overdue" and Im glad I fired my midwife (ahem...MEDwife) in october, or Im sure she'd be sending the police to my house! it's disgusting that I have to fly under the radar to keep my baby safe. if I broke my arm today, I'd have to wait until the baby was born to go to emergency, or Im sure I'd be under some kind of court ordered induction faster than you can say "pitocin kills babies".
and wtf is with the "mandatory tests" mentioned in the article? since when are any of the unnecessary tests and exams which they inflict on moms and babies mandatory? uhh...they're not.
The hospital called a number of times and got no response, thats why they sent the police to check. Maybe this woman should have had someone call and cancel her appointment and the hospital could have focused there concern on those that need it more.
Karen, how do you know? If you know more about the situation, what did you think of this line in the article?
"Rochelle Allan, who is reluctant to be induced even though her baby is 12 days overdue, was told by the hospital they intended to go ahead with the procedure when she came in."
Thanks.
I'm from New Hampshire, in the USA, and our local cops MIGHT conduct a "welfare check" on a woman who was overdue, but that's because we're in a TINY town. From their perspective, they wouldn't THINK to intimidate a pregnant woman, but we're awfully remote, and it's actually quite reasonable for them to want to make sure nothing happened to her. If she didn't keep an appointment and didn't call to cancel it, the hospital might have thought that, perhaps, something had gone wrong and she was bleeding on a floor somewhere, having fallen and hit her head.
While I agree that the medicalization of birth is both scary and REDICULOUSLY unnecessary, I just think that maybe this was more a case of poorly-expressed concern than coercion.