Midwife sacked over Facebook message to a patients ex

MIDWIFE lost her job after she sent a Facebook message telling a friend his ex-partner had given birth to his child.

The woman was sacked from her job at the Adelaide Women’s and Children’s Hospital over the incident in February 2016, reports Adelaide Now.

The midwife sent a message to a personal friend, known as Mr A, that his former partner had given birth to his child, adding that the infant was “f … ing huge”.

She stumbled across the information when checking the hospital’s birth register as part of her regular role, but admitted she should not have passed the details on to the father.

When the mother returned to the hospital weeks later she complained that a staff member had alerted her ex-partner and a formal investigation led to the midwife’s dismissal.

She has since appealed that decision before Industrial Relations Commission deputy president, Karen Bartel, and lost the case.

Ms Bartel found that while the midwife had merely passed on the information out of concern for her friend, her actions had clearly breached the midwife code of ethics.

“Ms H told (staff) that she was worried that her ex-partner would find out that the baby was in (the hospital ward) because of a past history of aggressive behaviour in their relationship and that she was fearful for her baby’s safety,” Ms Bartel found.

The midwife wrote a letter “sincerely and wholeheartedly” accepting her “absolute lapse of my rational and professional thinking”, which breached several elements of the code of ethics.

But Ms Bartel said the midwife’s actions had caused the baby’s mother distress and had the potential to put the mother and baby’s security at risk.

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16 Comments

- - mom94125 said
  - 01 Nov 2017
    8:13 pm
that would be a tough situation to deal with. you would expect privacy. maybe the midwife should not have been allowed to treat her because they knew of each other

- - mom81879 said
  - 19 Apr 2017
    8:46 am
Not sure about sacking her, but definitely severe reprimand and this is blatant disregard for patient and her rights

- - mom206279 said
  - 31 Mar 2017
    9:32 am
Of course she should be sacked! It was a Facebook message. She probably had around two minutes typing where she could have stopped and realized what she was doing was wrong.

- - mom101628 said
  - 22 Feb 2017
    10:11 pm
Where was this woman’s common sense. Sacking is the only thing that could have been done.

- - Ellen said
  - 15 Feb 2017
    4:56 pm
I can imagine she got sacked because of that !

- - sars_angelchik said
  - 15 Feb 2017
    2:57 pm
That’s so irresponsible. Facebook is by no means a secure place and that information is private, not to mention the inappropriate nature of the message and the father’s past history.

- - ella12 said
  - 15 Feb 2017
    11:24 am
Stupid woman. Glad to hear she was sacked.

- - tessie said
  - 15 Feb 2017
    10:49 am
This midwife broke the confidentiality agreement which everyone must sign when they work in a hospital. How could anyone trust her again. It was a foolish thing to do and now she has to live with that lapse of judgement

- - rovermum said
  - 15 Feb 2017
    10:04 am
So wrong. Surely goes against everything ethical and the patient’s privacy. It’s not the midwife’s business. She has no idea what is going on in that relationship. She has way overstepped.

- - mom94380 said
  - 14 Feb 2017
    8:39 pm
Against so many ethics!!! Things that happen in hospital should stay in hospital, definitely not on social media! The damage that could have occurred because of lack of consideration for nurses code of conduct.

- - june11 said
  - 13 Feb 2017
    8:09 pm
It is up to the Mum to decide who is told about the baby’s arrival.
- mom93821 replied
  
  14 Feb 2017 , 6:14 am
  Exactly – the birth of a baby should be joyous and this should never ever happen.
- - mom93821 said
  - 13 Feb 2017
    7:48 pm
Confidentiality should never ever be broken.

- - nealsq said
  - 13 Feb 2017
    4:58 pm
that is a very serious breach of patient confidentiality

- - BellaB said
  - 13 Feb 2017
    4:40 pm
I agree with the sacking. Do your job, act professionally, and mind your wn business.

- - mom112217 said
  - 13 Feb 2017
    1:10 pm
I agree with the sacking totally.