Mar 9

“He Will Be Blind And Retarded, If He Survives And You Are Going To Die!”

“He’ll be blind and retarded, if he survives, and you are going to die!” -OB screaming at a mother admitted to hospital at 28 weeks with severe preeclampsia, while making arrangments to transfer her to another hospital.

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There are 19 comments to this post.

Chara had this to say, Mar 9, 2010 @ 4:30 pm (Quote)

Thank God for the transfer! I hope he didn’t come.

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Jennifer B. had this to say, Mar 9, 2010 @ 4:32 pm (Quote)

I can see why she wanted to transfer… idiot doc!

It’s not like she was trying to go home…

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Emma had this to say, Mar 9, 2010 @ 4:41 pm (Quote)

Oh right, because screaming at you is so HELPFUL.

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Laura had this to say, Mar 9, 2010 @ 4:55 pm (Quote)

Well, yeah, because as we all know, having a child with developmental disabilities is the worst punishment any family can have inflicted upon them. So that’s a great threat.

/sarcasm

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Jane had this to say, Mar 9, 2010 @ 5:00 pm (Quote)

Woah, Doc,switch to decaf!

Screaming is the standard of care nowadays, huh?

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MJB had this to say, Mar 9, 2010 @ 5:01 pm (Quote)

Seriously?

What was the context? Just doesn’t make sense at all.

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Heather P had this to say, Mar 9, 2010 @ 5:12 pm (Quote)

So was the OB transfering the mother at the mother’s request or because that particular hospital did not have the facilities for a 28 week old baby?

If the mother is more comfortable somewhere else either for her own health or her baby’s it does not merit this sort of treatment. I’m curious to hear more from the OP about what happened.

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The Deranged Housewife had this to say, Mar 9, 2010 @ 5:52 pm (Quote)

Ack. Yes, that will *really* help lower her blood pressure.

I had high BP and borderline pre-e with my last two pregnancies. The Not-So-Friendly- Nurse who would always check my BP would ask me stupid questions like, “Are you having a bad day?” or some other BS because it was up. I finally said, “No, but sitting in the waiting room for an hour didn’t help!” Good Lord.

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Bamff Reply:
March 9th, 2010 at 6:15 pm Bamff(Quote)

The Deranged Housewife: Ack. Yes, that will *really* help lower her blood pressure.
The Not-So-Friendly- Nurse who would always check my BP would ask me stupid questions like, “Are you having a bad day?” or some other BS because it was up. I finally said, “No, but sitting in the waiting room for an hour didn’t help!” Good Lord.

Seriously! Also the rushing one has to do when getting to an appointment might also cause your b/p to go up. *And by rushing I mean, the “park, walk, check in, sit, go back to reception desk for lame questions, sit, get called back and have to walk behind the MA who forgets you are 15 months pregnant and cannot walk that fast, scale (where you have gained much more than you allowed 25 lbs) then dealing with the doctor for 5.4 minutes.

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Jena had this to say, Mar 9, 2010 @ 6:29 pm (Quote)

I’m puzzled. Is this a threat, warning, promise, or diagnosis? Had the Mom been doing something outrageous to raise her BP like… um… intentionally chugging salt with a known genetic predisposition to sodium-related HBP, in the hopes of GETTING pre-eclampsia? Then I could understand the whole “You’re an idiot and yes you caused this” attitude.

Otherwise, I am severely puzzled about what this statement was supposed to accomplish!

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Reality Rounds had this to say, Mar 9, 2010 @ 7:26 pm (Quote)

My guess is this transfer was to a facility with a Level III NICU that can care for a 28 weeker. A 28 weeker can have very good outcomes, so to say that the baby will be “retarded and blind” is extremely ignorant, heartless, and wrong. I can not figure out from the quote what the context is. Not to justify the cruelty of the quote, but was the mom refusing transfer? This quote seems like it came from an unstable person. I have never heard anything so ignorant, thank God!

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Sheva had this to say, Mar 9, 2010 @ 7:47 pm (Quote)

My friend’s baby just came home, and she was born at 24 weeks. She had multiple surgeries and is now a tiny but healthy 7 month old!

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Justine had this to say, Mar 9, 2010 @ 8:38 pm (Quote)

I was the doula for this particular momma-goddess and this particular OB is a 5-person douche canoe in addition to being ill-informed about the potential outcomes for 28 weekers. Momma was planning a homebirth with a qualified provider, and OB decided to judge that choice harshly and was dismissive of midwifery care in general. Momma was a very healthy person with zero preexisting risk factors that would have prompted such treatment. And yes, he was transferring her to a facility with a NICU since the local hospital was only known for its outrageously high cs rate. But to make it clear, momma and dad were in no way refusing transfer or even questioning the need to transfer…this OB was just heartless. Period. That baby is now a beautiful, healthy toddler with zero health issues whatsoever. And a formal complaint was lodged against this OB with momma’s insurance company

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Jena Reply:
March 10th, 2010 at 1:25 am Jena(Quote)

Thank you, Justine, for filling us in. I’m SO glad this all turned out so well for the family and baby and a complaint was made. Woo!

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Stephanie Reply:
March 10th, 2010 at 7:52 am Stephanie(Quote)

I’m glad this story turned out well. I must say though, your 5-person douche canoe comment has achieved the bar as the funniest comment ever. Well done, although it sounds like it was unfortunately very deserved!

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Heather P Reply:
March 10th, 2010 at 9:21 am Heather P(Quote)

Thanks for letting us know what happened Justine. I wonder what the purpose of such a rant was other than to raise the mother’s blood pressure further. I think your 5-person douche canoe comment is well justified. Glad the baby and mother were okay.

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