Erin Miller

Review of Exempla St. Josephs

I gave birth to my first child at St. Joseph s Hos...

I gave birth to my first child at St. Joseph s Hospital in February 2017 and had a harrowing experience during labor and delivery and when being readmitted through the Emergency Department. This review will focus on those two aspects of the hospital. I had my second child at Rose Hospital and had a much better experience. Some elements of my experience are described below.

TL; DR: More than two years later, I am still in physical therapy due to a birth injury I received at this hospital. I was also sent home with postpartum preeclampsia and then had to be readmitted through the ED, but only after waiting for 7 hours with severe-range blood pressures.

1. Obstetric Violence -- An episiotomy was performed on me WITHOUT MY CONSENT with no efforts to reduce tearing. I suffered a 4th degree laceration as a result of this procedure and experience ongoing issues from this injury even several years later. My baby was born vigorous with all normal readings.

2. Chaotic Delivery Room -- no one was in charge in the delivery room. Nurses and doctors were all yelling at each other and yelling at me. Critical diagnostic tests (including checking my urine for protein) and vitals (including taking my weight) were not performed or recorded.

3. Poor Communication -- I experienced poor communication with nurses, residents and attendings who often provided conflicting information. No one reviewed my birth plan, which had included a desire not to have an episiotomy.

4. Lack of Adequate Supervision of Residents -- Critical procedures were attempted only by residents. When the resident rounded and I had questions, she provided inaccurate information.

5. Inability to Get Supplemental Food for Baby -- St. Joe s is a baby friendly hospital, but this protocol has been implemented in a way that disempowers families. My child was born small for gestational age and very hungry. I had a traumatic delivery and so my milk supply was both reduced and delayed. We continually asked to get supplemental food and were denied. He lost weight rapidly. It was not until he had lost 12% of his body weight that it was treated as an emergency and the nurses threatened to take him to the NICU.

6. Very Poor Service and Hygiene in the Emergency Department -- I returned to the hospital with severe postpartum preeclampsia 4 days postpartum. I waited 7 hours to be treated and even then, the attending in the emergency room did not call OB until I asked him to do so. There were also poor hygiene practices in the emergency room. A man was vomiting profusely, and the staff took his vitals -- including blood pressure and pulse ox (on his finger) and then took mine, without cleaning the equipment.

7. Poor Documentation -- The fact that I had a hypertensive event during delivery was not clearly marked on my records. Therefore, when I returned to the ED with severe range blood pressures 4 days postpartum, they did not immediately see that I had been hypertensive during delivery.

8. Inability to Get Food for Moms 24 Hours -- Food is not available for patients at all hours. When I was readmitted in the middle of the night after waiting in the ED for 7 hours, I was hungry, but there was no ability to get food to the room.

9. Not Offered Supplies or Care to Room with Infant when Readmitted 4 days Postpartum -- When I was readmitted for severe pre-eclampsia 4 days postpartum, I was not offered a bassinet or diapers or wipes for my 4-day old infant. After several requests and waiting for hours, we were provided with a bassinet so we could sleep. However, I was unable to get a boppy to support the baby while breastfeeding until a new nurse started during the day shift. Further, our infant had been losing weight rapidly and was therefore scheduled for daily checks at home. However, once we were back in the hospital, no one would check the infant. My partner had to find the baby scale in the room, google the user manual, and track the baby s weight himself.