Posted by My OB said WHAT?!?.
Jan
20
Posted by My OB said WHAT?!?.
“Can You Just Stop To Fill Out These Papers For Me?”
“Can you just stop to fill out these papers for me?” – L&D Nurse to mother being rushed through the Emergency Department to L&D while pushing her baby out.
There are 56 comments to this post.
No. No I can’t.
We had these forms, but we had to sign them all off by 32 weeks preferably, during prenatals. Was this a homebirth transfer or something, or do they really expect people in America to sign paperwork upon admission during labour?
My hospital had me do the hep B refusal, the vit K preferences, the birth plan, the water birth informed consent, and the actual ‘yes you may help me deliver my baby’ form all before 32 weeks, along with a whole folder of other papers about my knowlege of raising a baby etc. That way the only paperwork I had to worry about during or after the birth was the discharge form.
(having said that, given everything I had to sign to give birth, I’m now wondering why I didn’t sign a single form in regards to my spinal tap and OR visit afterwards…)
[Reply]
MamaDoula Reply:
January 20th, 2012 at 5:13 am (Quote)
Sadly, yes they do expect moms in labor to sign papers when they arrive to the hospital. Here in Charlotte, moms “pre-register” in their third trimester, and think they’re all done. Then they’re surprised that to find that pre-registering does nothing as far as admission paperwork. All pre-registering does is allow the hospital to go ahead an bill the insurance company for your birth (which hasn’t happened yet). But once you actually arrive and are confirmed to be in active labor, then they play “20 questions” and ask you to sign all kinds of papers. My favorite one is the consent for the photographer to take pictures of the baby. Ummm…can that NOT wait until after the baby is born???
[Reply]
Jane Reply:
January 20th, 2012 at 5:24 am (Quote)
I asked the hospital for the admission forms and they told me no, that I could only fill them out once I arrived. In labor. No, really.
I have to say that with my homebirth, I didn’t fill out any papers to deliver in my own home. And the midwives (strangely enough) knew when I called them to come deliver the baby that I wanted them to deliver my baby. Whereas the nurses, even when I showed up at the hospital breathing through regular contractions, stating that I was here to deliver my baby with a practice that ONLY delivered babies in that hospital, they strangely could not figure out what I intended to do until I signed a paper stating my intention to birth in the hospital. :-b
[Reply]
Lore Reply:
January 20th, 2012 at 5:40 am (Quote)
With both of my babies I was officially admitted after they were born :b My first they thought birth was a long way away and sent me of to walk the halls (I was only 6 cm), which I did for about 5 minutes until I started throwing up in a garbage can. Wham bam boom, into a room and my son was born, no time for paperwork. With my daughter I arrived near the end of transition, they took one look at me in the assessment area wheeled me down the hall on the gurney to the delivery room, Wham bam boom my daughter was born. No time for paperwork. Both times my pre delivery blood work was done after, all of my admittance/permissions were signed after, no one was harmed by my lack of paperwork! The did have my chart both times though and knew about my latex allergy as well as all my pre admittance papers so it wasn’t exactly done blind.
[Reply]
Tee Reply:
January 20th, 2012 at 1:28 pm (Quote)
Please tell me that you were not charged for the “pre delivery blood work”?!
[Reply]
abba12 Reply:
January 20th, 2012 at 2:50 pm (Quote)
pre-delivery blood work?? What on earth for?
Australia is pretty bad in a lot of areas medically, and I’ve always considered their birthing system as terrible, but it’s just wonderful compared to America!
[Reply]
Lore Reply:
January 20th, 2012 at 3:37 pm (Quote)
I don’t know what the bloodwork was for, honestly at that point I didn’t care, I was nursing my beautiful baby and the world was wonderful 
As for being charged for it, I’m a Canadian, I have no idea what I was charged for, but I do (overall) love our healthcare system.
[Reply]
Jade Reply:
January 22nd, 2012 at 7:44 am (Quote)
As an Australian I have to say that I think our medical system is pretty damn awesome!! It has its downfalls but overall we are incredibly lucky. We have world leading professionals, and wonderful hospitals. As far as our maternity system as a whole goes, my only complaint is the cost of homebirthing.
[Reply]
Bazile Reply:
January 20th, 2012 at 5:33 am (Quote)
I’m in the US, and I think it’s generally pretty standard if you’re planning a hospital birth to pre-register at the hospital. Though exactly what they have you depends on the hospital. Where my daughter was born, I had to call L&D and answer a bunch of questions mostly about my insurance, who my ob was, and for reasons I’m not sure of several times if I had GD. Not sure if they thought I was going to all of a sudden develop it while on the phone or what, lol. I ended up being induced and then having a c-section so I’m not sure what they do if you show up in actual labor, but they had a whole slew of paperwork for me to sign from consenting to the Pitocin and Cytotec to the forms for Hep B vaccine. While the ones consenting to the induction obviously wouldn’t be needed if I had gone into labor on my own, I would hope if you showed up pushing they’d of waited on the forms. Though the nurse didn’t turn off the Pitocin until after I’d signed all the forms consenting to surgery, so maybe not. Mostly I’d say it depends on the hospital.
[Reply]
Amanda Reply:
January 20th, 2012 at 6:09 am (Quote)
Yes, and even in some places, like where I am…. you pre-register, and then they have you sign ALL THE SAME PAPERS AGAIN when you arrive at the hospital. It’s INSANE.
The upside to this is, when I attended a client who walked into the hospital complete and ready to push, she was still treated, then signed everything. But, they still required her to sign ALL of the forms.
[Reply]
Lisa Reply:
January 20th, 2012 at 6:34 am (Quote)
I think it depends on the hospital. Before we decided on the home birth route, we did a hospital tour. I’d always heard about pre-registering, so I asked them about it. They said you just fill out all the paperwork when you come to the hospital, which was another thing that I found ridiculous about the hospital setting. So glad I didn’t go that route. I can’t imagine trying to fill out papers during contractions.
[Reply]
Darsy Reply:
January 21st, 2012 at 2:10 pm (Quote)
Some part of me thinks the ‘signing papers during contractions’ is the whole point, to some extent–so you don’t pay full attention to what you’re signing.
[Reply]
jaed Reply:
January 22nd, 2012 at 11:28 am (Quote)
I expect some of it is for historical reasons, too. Back in the day, women were expected to go to the hospital as soon as they were sure they were in labor. When women were usually hanging around for hours in early labor, the idea of filling out paperwork was less absurd than it is now, when so many women don’t go in until labor is well advanced and they need to focus on it.
[Reply]
Jen Reply:
January 20th, 2012 at 7:31 am (Quote)
I was on hospital bedrest for 3 weeks, and they still wheeled their little computer in EVERY SINGLE MORNING to ask me if I had any tattoos. Um, yeah, I snuck out last night and got one.
[Reply]
Robyn Reply:
January 24th, 2012 at 9:57 am (Quote)
Yes, they do. With my son, I pre-registered. When I got to the hospital because my water broke, I had to fill out a bunch of paperwork and get my arm band (not admitted yet). After an hour of monitoring, they determined that my water hadn’t broken and I was only in early labor so they sent me home. We didn’t even make it all the way back home before I told hubby to turn back around.
We were gone from the hospital for about an hour. I threw up halfway back (hello, transition). I walked in with vomit all over me, told the lady at the desk that I wasn’t going home this time. They *quickly* filled out the same paperwork that they had filled out 2 1/2 hours previously to give me another bracelet and wheeled me up to L&D.
I got in (the same room I was in before because they hadn’t cleaned it yet), they checked me and I was at 7cm. I wanted a shower to clean the vomit off. The water was lukewarm and annoying. I got out and felt like I had to pee, so I sat on the toilet. While on the toilet, I felt the urge to push. They made me get back on the bed, determined that I was complete, and started rushing to get an IV in and have me sign the admission paperwork. To this day, the only thing I know I signed was the consent for pain medication. I only know this because the nurse having me sign everything stopped and asked the nurse putting in my IV if she should have me sign it even though I wasn’t going to have time to get anything. They waited until AFTER I signed anything (even though they determined that I was complete and feeling the urge to push before I started signing) before they called the doctor. My son was born 10 minutes before the doctor walked into the room.
[Reply]
Kit had this to say,
Jan 20, 2012 @ 5:58 am (Quote)
We had to play 20 questions when we were being admitted too. BUT, my hospital let my husband answer all of the questions he knew, wouldn’t ask me questions during contractions, and let my husband sign the admitting paperwork for me. If you’ve got to do it, I think that is the right way to do it.
[Reply]
Kasondra Reply:
January 20th, 2012 at 6:16 am (Quote)
My husband was in school (air force) and missed our first. When they took me back they made my parents wait so I was alone, writhing in pain (flat on my back of course), terrified. As I’m trying to deal with the pain (I was dilating VERY quickly) the nurse said, “If you can’t answer these questions we can’t give you any pain medication.” I was hooked up to the monitor so she could SEE WHEN I WAS HAVING A CONTRACTION but she wouldn’t pause for them.
[Reply]
I was actually “pre-admitted” to the hospital because I had come in at 38 weeks for a consult with the perinatologist. I thought I was all set, but when I arrived at the hospital 1.5 weeks ater at 3cm dilated and contracting every 30-45 seconds, I too had to STOP, get up out of my wheelchair and sign a paper (thankfully only one because everything else was done in advance). My husband and I looked at the nurse like she had three heads! I can’t imagine that my “signature” on that form was anything more than a straight line. Thankfully, my L&D experience went a lot more smoothly (and reasonably) from there! (FWIW, I’m also in the US).
[Reply]
This is mine. This was my VBAC baby… I had per-registered and all that jazz… went into labor and went really fast. I wasn’t sure it was actually labor for quite awhile, and once I did know, I was already in transition at home and we had to call our friend to come stay with our son, and call my doula. We are military and live on base, so my husband was trying to get my doula onto the base without him having to leave me… by the time she arrived at the house, my water had just broken all over my couch. We should have just had her meet us at the hospital – but you know what they say about hindsight.
We left the house and I had to have them recline my seat because I was sitting on my daughter’s head… we arrived at the hospital a little after 4:00am and my doula and a nurse took me in through the ER. My husband went to park the truck.
On the way in, there was a nurse sitting at a desk in the ER, yelling at me and asking if I could fill out the paperwork. My doula kept stating, “She has to push, she has to push.” I think I might have chimed in at one point but it was all a blur.
I got to my room and they asked me to go into the bathroom, give a urine sample, and change into a gown (???). While in the bathroom, my daughter crowned… my doula heard me yelling, “BABY!” and got me out. My beautiful baby girl was born into the nurses’ hands less than five minutes after we arrived at the hospital… they cut the cord immediately (we hadn’t had time to tell them our preferences were to delay cord cutting) and whisked her off to a warmer, but as soon as my doula reminded me I wanted skin-to-skin, they brought my daughter back to me and let me hold her for several hours without interruption.
My husband was intercepted by the lady who wanted me to fill out the paperwork… he ended up filling it out and he missed the birth because of it. Had she left him alone and let him do it later, he’d have gotten to see the VBAC we had prepared for together for months… we both grieve for that still (our daughter is almost 21 months old now).
And yes, before anyone says it, I know I’d be an awesome homebirth candidate… just not sure how to work that out with Tricare, living on a military installation, and VBAC.
[Reply]
Heather Reply:
January 20th, 2012 at 10:45 am (Quote)
Oh, wow, I am SO sorry 
Congrats on your VBAC! Yay! But as for the rest? I’m not sure about Tricare, but I THINK I’ve read of moms HBing on it? If you know cafemom, that would be the place to ask around (although also prepare for jerks left and right). I do know one military mama who did it totally unassisted and with webcam so her DH could be there while he was overseas.
[Reply]
Elizabeth Reply:
January 20th, 2012 at 11:31 am (Quote)
We are Army and I had DS2 at home unassisted, granted we lived off post but I would’ve done it on post as well. We’re stationed in Germany right now and are blessed to have the most amazing midwife in the Tricare network so we’re having another homebirth, in government quarters in about 5 weeks 100% covered by Tricare. I wish it were easier to get covered in the states.
[Reply]
Bonita Reply:
January 20th, 2012 at 12:02 pm (Quote)
My dh is military and we homebirth. Tricare doesn’t cover it, but it is definately worth the out of pocket cost.
[Reply]
Lizzie K Reply:
January 20th, 2012 at 12:49 pm (Quote)
Tricare does not cover homebirth. They will pay 100% for hospital births and part of a free-standing birth center’s fees. I was reading that and thought that was stupid, since birth centers tend to charge less.
[Reply]
Ashley Bean Reply:
January 21st, 2012 at 10:40 am (Quote)
I only had to pay $175 here to use a free standing birth center. It was $25 for my deductable (I switched to tricare standard so they would cover the birth) and $150 for my deposit from the birth center. That held my spot, so to speak. I don’t get why they don’t cover all of a birth center birth either. My total bill for the birth center was less than 5 grand, but I know my hopsital bill with my first delivery was more than that.
[Reply]
jenni Reply:
January 21st, 2012 at 11:40 am (Quote)
this is really sad- what my (low income) medicaid covered from our hosptial was a TOTAL of $2500 for birth, hospital stay, and all prenatal care. thats all medicaid paid to them. if i had paid cash, they would have charged me at leas 4x as much. i don’t know why, if i paid cash they wouldnt have had to employ a whole ‘nother person in the office to bill the insurance… but they’d still charge me more.
[Reply]
I’m trying to envision this in the ER. Heart attack? Bleeding out from a gunshot wound? Car accident? “Can you just stop to fill out these papers for me?”
[Reply]
Chelsea Reply:
January 23rd, 2012 at 1:51 pm (Quote)
Yep, my FIL had several heart attacks and they wouldn’t give him any medication or call the helicopter that needed to fly him to a hospital that could handle his cases until the paperwork was filled out. The dumb thing was apparently this paperwork couldn’t just be kept on file, they had to have it filled out again each time.
[Reply]
The way it was explained to me is that if the paperwork is filled out beforehand its an assumption of kinda analyzing you? and doing an assessment, and by forcing them to do the paperwork upon admission forces them to check out everything and assess the situation… if that makes sense at all… by the time I got to the hospital… 8.5cm labor was still pretty manageable, but I do remember snapping at my husband when he was asking me questions, I took the clipboard form his hand and said if it was that important they would have had me fill it out before….
[Reply]
Jane Reply:
January 20th, 2012 at 9:06 am (Quote)
And there’s no other way for these highly-trained professionals to figure out a woman is in labor than by insisting she needs to sign forms she hasn’t read while she’s breathing through contractions and feeling the urge to push? NO other way?
No, that’s just an excuse. The real reason is they want forms signed to protect them from legal action, so they get aggressive about having you sign away all your rights when you’re too occupied by labor and feeling scared that they’ll deny you care if you don’t do it. If it was just getting the paper signed, they’d have let me sign the paperwork early the way I asked them. It’s all about the hospital’s legal coverage.
[Reply]
This one actually made me laugh out loud because I’ve seen nurses get into a frenzy over paperwork at the worst possible times. I remember moaning during an especially intense contraction, on all fours in the tub with my husband right next to me, when a nurse burst through the bathroom door in a panic because I hadn’t signed the epidural waiver form. Talk about tunnel vision.
[Reply]
OP, if you kept your “no” civil, you are a better woman than I. I’m pretty sure I would have told them where they could stick their papers (if I could have even spoken). On top of everything, asking a woman to sign papers in that situation would NEVER hold up in any kind of legal situation– this is NOT informed consent.
[Reply]
jaed Reply:
January 20th, 2012 at 2:01 pm (Quote)
You, in turn, are more civil than I am, because I might not only have told them where they could stick their papers, but actually put them there. 
And yes – if you don’t have the opportunity to read what you’re signing, “informed consent” doesn’t seem to hold. (Not that hospitals involved in birth necessarily honor informed consent, but still.)
[Reply]
When I was in high school, I was in a bad car accident. I was not badly hurt, but as a precaution they put me in a c-collar and strapped me to a backboard. They called my mother from the ambulance, but because of the c-collar, I can’t talk to her.
She gets a ride to the emergency room, and before they will bring her back, they make her sign some paperwork. She brings it back up to the desk, at which time the nurse tells her she needs to sign some other stuff and wait a few minutes.
It was at this point that my mother began to physically climb over the desk where, presumably, her intent was to dispatch the nurse and then come check on me. Suddenly the paperwork was inconsequential, and they brought her in back.
The best part was that I was a minor. WTF was the staff thinking?
[Reply]
Sounds a lot like my second birth! I had to stop at the registration desk on the way in, I was complete and writhing and couldn’t put two thoughts together and she was asking me who the pediatrician was going to be. I somehow got through that (pretty quickly – thankfully) and DH wheeled me quickly into triage where they got me up onto a bed and I pushed out our daughter.
I’m pregnant again and needless to say I’m going to have a chat with my midwives about special circumstances if I happen to go really fast again. I’d rather not repeat that!
[Reply]
Looks like doctors are subject to nurses pulling this crap too.
http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2012/01/paperwork-unintended-distractions-physicians-nurses.html
“Another classic experience of mine was when the anesthesiologist had trouble intubating a patient who started to suffer a severe lack of oxygen. I was immediately called to the bedside and performed an emergency tracheostomy.
Of course, the nurse involved in the case immediately instructed me to stop performing the trach and to get consent as per the regulations. Heaven forbid we now can’t check that little box that states “consent obtained prior to surgery.” But in the interest of patient care, I did suggest that it would be better if the patient lived with an unconsented trach rather than die due to time spent obtaining consent.”
[Reply]
Another one here where papers were pushed.
I seriously do NOT understand the whole “pre-register” concept if I still have just as many if not MORE paperwork to fill out while in labor?!
The nurse ignored me and my cries of my baby coming out of me, because she was still finishing up paper work!
WTF is wrong with this system?! EVERYTHING!
Why I’ve gone on to UC my last 6!
[Reply]
lucky me, i don’t remember signing a damn thing once i got to the hospital with either of my 2, pre-registering did work! of course, any mom who hasnt pre-registered, say one who lives in the next county and didnt intend on going into labor with no warning while having dinner here and has to come to the hospital… they’re SOL…
however, i think i had to proofread a thesis to leave the damn hospital!
[Reply]
Add Your Comment.
Reminds me of the nurse who bellowed in my face that she was “legally not allowed to help” me if I didn’t sign the form. I was mid-contraction and 9.5cm. The baby was born three minutes later. But she had to have the stupid form signed.
(I reported her. The head of maternity apologized to me. I obtained a copy of this Very Special Form prior to my next birth, since it was So Very Special.)
Sometimes I think the hospitals were built for people who love paperwork, and they admit patients only so we can generate more papers to shuffle around. “Ooh, this form requires five signatures! I love it!”
[Reply]
MamaDoula Reply:
January 20th, 2012 at 5:23 am MamaDoula(Quote)
I’d have said “So basically, you are refusing to provide care to me, a woman in obviously VERY active labor, unless I sign your forms? Okay sure, I’ll sign your papers. And then I’ll sign some EMTALA complaint papers when I’m done here.”
[Reply]
Jane Reply:
January 20th, 2012 at 5:27 am Jane(Quote)
9.5cm, breathing through contractions, on all fours, staring at the paperwork she had shoved onto the pillow under my face, and when I ignored her first demand that I sign it, she started shouting at me that she wsn’t legally allowed to touch me until I did it.
My midwife wasn’t in the room because she didn’t realize how fast I was going (she was prepping a room down the hall) and afterward they all apologized. The head of L&D admitted that no, it was not legally defensible for them to allow me to deliver unattended in their triage room just because I hadn’t signed a paper.
But at the time, being badgered when I was trying to focus through contractions, I did sign my first name only. And then as the smug nurse started walking away, I said, “I’m going to push now,” and she said, “What–NO!” and I pushed and my water broke all over the bed, all over her, and I hope all over that stupid piece of paper.
I did consider signing it with F— you but I wsn’t sure if they’d take that as declining services at all, so I didn’t.
[Reply]
Tara R. Reply:
January 20th, 2012 at 6:03 am Tara R.(Quote)
I am SO glad you got her with amniotic fluid. Like she has any say over whether you push or not!! (Why, oh why, do some people decide to be nurses?!)
[Reply]
Tee Reply:
January 20th, 2012 at 1:26 pm Tee(Quote)
Hee hee, Jane… I think I love you! How awesome is it that you splashed her?!
[Reply]