Miscarriage case prompts call for ER changes
Last Updated: Friday, July 30, 2010 | 7:33 PM AT
CBC News
Laura Moore-Simpson wrote a booklet to help women after she had a miscarriage. (CBC)A support group for women who suffer miscarriages says it hopes P.E.I.'s largest hospital will change the way it treats such women following a complaint launched by one Island resident.
Christine Handrahan was nine weeks pregnant and bleeding when she arrived at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Charlottetown on July 12. She spent three hours waiting for treatment in a public waiting area before giving up and heading to a hospital in Summerside, a 45-minute drive away.
There, medical staff told Handrahan she had miscarried.
The group Broken Hearts Shattered Dreams, which helps women who go through miscarriages, hopes policies will change as a result of Handrahan coming forward with her story.
"I felt really, really horrible for the woman to have to go through that, but I'm really, really proud of her and feel really good that she went public," said Laura Moore-Simpson.
"It just displays some of the stuff that some of these women go through."
Moore-Simpson wrote a booklet after her own miscarriage to help other women going through the experience. She also planted a tree in her yard in memory of the child she lost.
Miscarriages are a painful, emotional experience, Moore-Simpson said, and Handrahan should have been helped immediately.
"Even if there was nothing a doctor could do, giving her some private space and letting her … go through this on her own with her husband, instead of in front of the public," said Moore-Simpson. "It was just horrific."
Review of complaint to take 1 month
Handrahan told CBC News the experience was terrifying. She said she couldn't believe she was left bleeding and crying in such a public area for three hours without treatment.
She said she and her husband arrived at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital at around 8 p.m. and didn't see a doctor until arriving at the Prince County Hospital in Summerside around midnight.
At Prince County, she was given a room, treated immediately and told she had had a miscarriage.
The P.E.I. Association of Social Workers said social work services are not available at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital on evenings or weekends.
"There's a lot of situations that go through the emergency room, evenings and weekends, that probably would benefit from social work service," said president Kelly MacWilliams.
Handrahan said she just wanted to be assessed and told she was going to be okay.
She said it has been tough speaking publicly about her experience, but she doesn't want other women to go through what she did.
The acting executive director at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital said there will been no official changes to emergency department policies until a review of the complaint is complete.
That review is expected to take a month.
