Annastacia Palaszczuk reveals past miscarriage amid anger at woman’s treatment in Ipswich hospital
Queensland’s premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, has divulged the trauma she suffered after experiencing a miscarriage as a woman’s harrowing experience sparks an internal health review.
Palaszczuk’s comments came during questioning about allegations a woman was traumatised by the hospital treatment she received after a painful miscarriage.
Nikkole Southwell, who was 12 weeks pregnant when she miscarried in April, this week claimed paramedics placed the foetus into a biohazard bag on the way to Ipswich hospital.
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The Fernvale woman told the Courier Mail she had to sit in the hospital waiting room holding the bag with sheets around her waist.
She alleged she was treated on a hospital bed smeared with another patient’s blood, and that hospital staff used her partner’s phone torch rather than the appropriate medical equipment during an examination before she was discharged.
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“I lost my baby and my dignity was taken,” she told the newspaper.
“I felt like my baby meant nothing while it sat in the top of my handbag in a biohazard bag for all to see.”
The state government on Wednesday said an internal review was being conducted of the incident. The health department has also been asked to develop guidelines on how to treat women who miscarry.
Speaking on Nine’s Today on Thursday, Palaszczuk said she did “feel for the woman involved”.
“I’m going to be personally involved with the minister to ensure that these things definitely do not happen again in our public hospitals.
“It’s not acceptable.
“I don’t think it’s right and the health minister is convening … an urgent round table to discuss these very important issues.”
Palaszczuk told interviewers she herself had suffered a miscarriage.
“I do know exactly what it’s like. It is horrific and stays with you for the rest of your life,” she said.
Palaszczuk said she was at her home on the day she miscarried.
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“I had it in my house,” she said. “I went to work – I was completely in shock.
“This was many, many years ago of course, before I was a politician, but I know the trauma that [women go] through.
“It is heartbreaking; it is very hurtful; and you’re in shock, and you don’t know what to do.”
Miscarriages occur in at least 15% of confirmed pregnancies, according to Miscarriage Australia.
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“The actual miscarriage rate is likely to be much higher – we estimate it to be around one in four pregnancies,” its research states. “Based on these rates and the number of births each year, we estimate around 285 miscarriages occur every day in Australia.”
Palaszczuk said it was a traumatic issue for women “and we don’t talk about it”.
“So I think there are conversations that need to happen, but also the health care system needs to respond, because so many times we focus on the woman having the baby and not the person who’s lost the baby.”
Senior clinicians will lead the internal review, which is expected to take at least 30 days before the recommendations are publicly released.