Posted by My OB said WHAT?!?.
Jul
15
Posted by My OB said WHAT?!?.
“Membranes Ruptured Spontaneously After Admitting Patient.”
“Membranes ruptured spontaneously after admitting patient.” – Medical records of a mother who had her membranes artificially ruptured by the OB during labor while she repeated “I do not consent.”
There are 45 comments to this post.
Is there anything a mother could do to have this corrected? Who would she go to?
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Kate Reply:
July 15th, 2011 at 2:23 pm (Quote)
I found this online
http://patients.about.com/od/yourmedicalrecords/a/howtocorrect.htm
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Rebecca Reply:
July 15th, 2011 at 4:45 pm (Quote)
This is anecdotal- but a friend who attempted to do so was basically told that laboring mothers aren’t reliable enough to contradict what’s in the records. Since the doctor wouldn’t agree that the records were wrong, the lie stood.
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Mama Wrench Reply:
July 15th, 2011 at 4:53 pm (Quote)
Not asking for personal info, but what was she trying to have changed?
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Rebecca Reply:
July 15th, 2011 at 4:55 pm (Quote)
I’m not comfortable sharing details, but it was a situation like we see in the comments in this thread. What she and her husband were told by the medical personnel during the course of her labor did not match her records.
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Mama Wrench Reply:
July 15th, 2011 at 5:08 pm (Quote)
I’m just curious because I want to change the details of my records from the cause of c-section being “failure to progress” to “fetal distress.” My current OB is trying to pressure me to schedule a repeat c-section since “if your labor stalled the first time, it will just stall again, so TOL would probably just result in a more dangerous c-section.” My son’s distress was caused by prematurity (which the doctor at my birth told me verbally, even though he put FTP in my record.)
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Louisa Reply:
July 15th, 2011 at 6:48 pm (Quote)
I have told the doctor I refuse all VEs during my upcoming labour because I don’t want them to know if/when I stall and give them leverage to push for another c/s. No law says you have to have VEs, keep your knickers on until you are pushing and you can feel the head
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Cari had this to say,
Jul 15, 2011 @ 2:39 pm (Quote)
Kinda like when the on-call OB checked me and says my son is transverse and that’s why I’m not dialating and then after I’m bullied into a section, *suddenly* baby is head down (his head was in the birth canal). My chart says ‘Patient requested c-section’.
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Dreamy Reply:
July 15th, 2011 at 8:59 pm (Quote)
*smh*
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Sonia Reply:
July 16th, 2011 at 7:33 am (Quote)
I don’t know what’s worse, your’s or mine…I was 7 centimeters and completely effaced, had my water broken for only a handful of hours and I stalled for an hour at 7ish…my bishop score when I came INTO the hospital was 12…they started pushing c-section and I caved….My records say I was “will powered to c-section” several times….Fail to progress was the official thing wrong with me, but I was “will powered to c-section” just makes me sick….
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I read this months ago, and it chilled me to the bone… http://www.pulsemagazine.org/Archive_Index.cfm?content_id=119
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Nicole Reply:
July 15th, 2011 at 3:27 pm (Quote)
I’ve read that too. My experience wasn’t anywhere near as traumatizing, but it wasn’t pretty either. I requested my records, read through them, and was startled to find many of the same things here. “Mother resting comfortably”… I wasn’t resting OR comfortable. “Mother reports breastfeeding is going well”… I reported my nipples were TORN and BLEEDING and that I had significant pain with EVERY nursing session. “Mother was teary-eyed, encouragement given, mother seems better”… I was sobbing my eyes out, guilty, despondent, in terrible emotional pain, and the midwife spent 5 minutes with me before she HAD to leave because she had clinic across the street, telling me I was being silly because there was nothing I could have done to prevent the problems we had.
I really feel for this mother, the OP and the one in this link. I’ve been there.
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Nicci P Reply:
July 15th, 2011 at 3:30 pm (Quote)
That is terrifying. I was diagnosed with PTSD a year after my 1st birth. My son is now 4 and I’ve been debating getting my birth records ever since as some friends have told me that going through it with the hospital has helped them.
But after writing a couple of complaint letters to the hospital and getting replies along the lines of “we are sorry YOU feel this way” I cant help feeling that it would just trigger feelings that hours of therapy have helped me to move forward from.
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Louisa Reply:
July 15th, 2011 at 3:53 pm (Quote)
I felt the same way and ended up getting my records but I didn’t go through them, I gave them to my midwife (pregnant for a 2nd time) to go through to summarise and to tell me and my doula. In a way it was good because then I knew what was written and I didn’t have to spend anymore time wondering what it/they said. And, surprisingly, after a cry and a bout of anger I moved on, this is a different pregnancy, different care provider, I don’t have to feel like that again.
Get your records & go through them with someone you trust is my advice.
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road2vba2c Reply:
July 15th, 2011 at 5:02 pm (Quote)
This is horrible. I read bits and pieces of this to my husband. It makes me thankful I’m done with having kids!!
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Doctors can write whatever the hell they want in the records it seems. My best friend’s mom requested an episiotomy with her last son, because she knew he was going to be huge and she wanted a controlled cut, but the doctor refused (saying her baby was only going to be around 7lbs–when she’d never had a baby anywhere NEAR that small, ever) and she tore in a + from anus through clitoris and out along both labia (with her nearly 12lb baby). No knowing if the episiotomy would have been better, but they wrote “patient refused episiotomy” in her chart.
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Maddy Reply:
July 15th, 2011 at 8:32 pm (Quote)
While it is really awful that her wishes were so callously ignored, it’s pretty much a myth that an episiotomy will help get big babies out without tearing the mother. In fact, there’s evidence that suggests the opposite – that an episiotomy can increase the amount of tearing that occurs. One article I read compared it to perforating paper before tearing it.
Just food for thought.
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I kept a written log of my first labor on the suggestion of my childbirth educator. That was 36 years ago. I highly recommend that moms keep records at the time. Doesn’t have to be much, just a time and a few comments (like dilation, interventions, comments from care providers). If mom can’t then her support person can.
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I’m convinced the records exist only to protect the hospital. And I thought *I* wrote fiction. 
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Debra Reply:
July 16th, 2011 at 1:58 pm (Quote)
To protect the hospital and the practitioners and provide documentation for billing purposes. It has nothing to do quality of care for the patient. That’s why Alicia’s advice to keep your own written records during L&D (or any medical treatment) is really good.
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SaraC had this to say,
Jul 15, 2011 @ 8:09 pm (Quote)
I was a medical record analyst for 7 years. Every RCS chart said “risks and benefits of VBAC discussed with patient including 1% rupture” when un reality they (the only OB practice for that hospital) refused to allow them. They still don’t even with ACOG’s modified position.
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I would have been on the phone with my insurance company right then.
“Hello? Yes, I need to switch providers. Yes, my current OB just ruptured my membranes without my consent and then lied about it on my chart. Sure, I’ll hold.” *looks at OB* “You can go now. They’re finding someone who won’t violate my rights again.”
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Jespren had this to say,
Jul 16, 2011 @ 3:37 am (Quote)
Until ‘patient records’ are countersigned by both the doctor and the patient after each entry I wouldn’t trust them on anything more complicated than ‘patient arrived’. It baffles the mind that they can be used as evidence! I’ve gotten my records for various things before (including pregnancy) and they are usually more wrong than right. And when it’s not wrong it’s incomplete or laced with comentary.
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Sonia Reply:
July 16th, 2011 at 7:53 am (Quote)
I completely agree…mine said I showed up in labor, I wasn’t in labor to my knowledge, I was plenty dilated (5-6) and almost completely effaced but I was not in labor like I have seen other people. I wasn’t contracting until they broke my water THEN I was in labor…I guess if I am wrong please someone correct me. I know everyone’s labors are different, but when did you (general MOBSW ladies) decide you were in actual labor?
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Jane Reply:
July 16th, 2011 at 8:55 am (Quote)
This is what I don’t understand. The medical records are considered proof, whereas the testimony of the patient is considered hearsay. That’s despite the fact that in any other situation, the written record would be considered “you word against theirs.”
I like the idea of patients having to countersign the records, but since the ones with the power are the hospitals and the doctors, it’s never going to happen. They don’t have a problem with the situation. Therefore they’re not going to change it.
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I’m not saying what this OB did was right (it was absolutely, positively WRONG), but what do we expect? Other than moral conviction, there is no compelling reason for an OB to record the actual facts. We’ve seen time and again on this blog that moral conviction is often lacking in humans. What IS compelling is their external pressures from malpractice insurance providers and hospital administrators. There is no accountability. There is no unbiased set of eyes. Big brother is most-decidedly not watching.
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So when do we get security cameras installed for our “protection”. When do we start going in with a team of lawyers and a court reporter in addition to a doula. How much more protection do we need to birth safely in a hospital.
Seriously this is why I UC. I can’t trust anyone to take care of me without an ulterior motive – to make money off of my normal bodily function, and to do everything they can to cover their ass from their own lies in the process.
Besides endangering me and my child…
OP I’m really sorry this happened to you. I read my medical records about 5 weeks post partum from having my first child and had a panic attack in the records room (after having to pay for the pages, just so I could look at them). I was hormonal and distraught and suffering from PTSD and PPD anyways, and reading the lies and seriously even 4 1/2 years later I am still just as angry and frustrated and betrayed by that experience. It’s wrong that they can just lie and write whatever they want.
“Records” are seriously written like an alibi or declaration of innocence, regardless of what really happened.
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Nicci P Reply:
July 16th, 2011 at 12:31 pm (Quote)
I UC’d my second baby (and will UC any more I have) after a bad hospital birth.
As I said further up the page, I’m debating getting my records. Do you feel it helped you or would you rather not know what lies they said?
I just dont know if I can deal with the section where I’m sure it will say I consented to pit and epi even though the truth is that a doctor shouted in my face til I was on the floor crying and wouldnt stop til I agreed. He walked out leaving me in a sobbing heap, destroyed emotionally. All because I wanted a natural birth. I used to have panic attacks a lot but havent had them for a while. I dont want to trigger them just because I’m curious about my records. But then maybe I could end up with closure?
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jaed Reply:
July 16th, 2011 at 12:56 pm (Quote)
Maybe follow the suggestion another poster made, and ask someone close to you to read them and summarize them to you? This would let you be informed while giving you a little emotional insulation, and might be easier for you than reading them yourself.
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Louisa Reply:
July 16th, 2011 at 3:54 pm (Quote)
My midwife read them while I sat on my couch with her and she drank a cup of coffee and laughed. Afterwards she asked some questions about what I remembered & said that she knew some information was false based on what was written & how it was written. She just wanted to read them to make sure that they didn’t do anything or disclose anything that would make it dangerous for me to HBAC. But, for me it was good because I found out I was further dilated then I actually was told etc etc. My midwife’s summary “honey, they screwed you over, you didn’t have a chance. Lets show ‘em you can do it”. To have someone validate my emotions & to say what I remembered verses what was written was closure for me. Now, I don’t have to wonder anymore, I have moved on.
But it is up to you what you want to do, how much energy do you spend wondering about your records? If you don’t spend any energy then don’t worry about it but if you are always thinking about them, get them and get closure, or that is what I would do.
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Details Reply:
July 18th, 2011 at 5:48 am (Quote)
My record were accurate as far as I know. I didn’t know enough to argue at the time so they didn’t have to cover anything up. What I did find out by taking my records to my new GP about a year later was that I was lucky they didn’t do a hysterectomy – I had lost that much blood. You never know what you might find out and you might read it yourself and not realize like I did.
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I had a submission similar to this a few months ago! Doc did one thing, wrote down another! I only found out after I request my records b/c I was leaving the area or something…It was about 6 years afterward…they probably didn’t realize it was in the file when they gave it to me.
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juliewashere88 had this to say,
Jul 17, 2011 @ 9:35 am (Quote)
Sue the shit out of him.
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It seems like nowadays we need to record all interactions we have with medical staff to make sure they dont falsify medical records. And I’m not talking about writing things down I’m talking about video and voice recorders. Then you have tangible proof that they did something wrong. I wonder if you would have a case against the hospital if you did all that.
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Jaycee Grey Reply:
July 18th, 2011 at 6:39 pm (Quote)
That’s why they don’t allow video cameras in the delivery room anymore.
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Once stalled, always stssalled, eh? Really, now? My full-on intervention-filled labor lasted 46 hours with most of it on pitocin. Ended in section. My last labor 6 months ago lasted about 15 hours with no drugs (transfer had me on drugs for the last two hours) and ended in a vbac with baby two pounds bigger than the first. You can vbac regardless of what’s in the record- mine also says failure to progress.
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Add Your Comment.
Wow. I wonder how many records say the same when actually obgyns did a rupture?
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Kate Reply:
July 15th, 2011 at 2:20 pm Kate(Quote)
I would bet my life that it’s A LOT of them
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Mama Wrench Reply:
July 15th, 2011 at 3:22 pm Mama Wrench(Quote)
My records say that I had a c-section for failure to dilate, even though I dilated to 10 cm and pushed for 2 hrs. I wouldn’t be surprised if it happened to many, if not most, hospital-birthing women.
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