Gladstone Hospital in Queensland is under independent investigation after a 19-year-old pregnant woman was repeatedly told they were too busy to see her, despite making contact 20-weeks with her waters leaking.
Taylor Scott told Nine News that hospital staff had said they “would call me back” but never did. She persisted, only to be given the same response – until at 31 weeks pregnant, she took herself to the hospital to demand medical attention.
She was booked in for a priority appointment on January 16, but never made it – on January 8, her baby was delivered via emergency C-section. He was dead at delivery, Mamamia reports. It took a paediatrician eight minutes to resuscitate the little boy, named Jaxson, before he was transported to Royal Brisbane Women’s Hospital for further treatment.
Devastatingly, his brain cortex function was determined to be “100 per cent gone” by an MRI scan. But Scott says, despite all odds, he is developing well.
“I need to be reassured if he is going to have problems but personally I think nothing is going to be wrong with him as he is doing so well and progressing like a full-term baby,” she told Nine News.
“They are investigating what happened to help us find out why they ignored us and to improve the hospital,” she adds. “I don’t want any compensation from them as it takes funds out of the hospital I just want them to learn their lesson and do better so this never happens again.”
A root cause analysis is currently underway at Gladstone Hospital.
