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Article QLD Mums Death Sparks Concerns Women Going Home Too Soon After Child Birth

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The Brisbane Mater Mothers’ Public Hospital is investigating the death of a mum who died just days after being sent home after giving birth.

It’s understood the woman was discharged from hospital last month and had suffered a suspected blood clot after having a caesarean delivery.

Mater Health Chief Executive Officer Sean Hubbard confirmed on Thursday the woman’s death was being investigated but gave no further details.

“As would be the case with any unexpected clinical outcome, Mater will conduct a thorough and detailed review into the care and treatment provided while she was at Mater,” he said in a statement.

“The case has also been referred to the coroner.”

Queensland Health Minister Steven Miles did not comment directly on the woman’s case but did say Queensland public maternity services are among the safest in the world.

“The Palaszczuk government has focused on increasing resources and staff, making sure that Queensland mums and bubs, and their families have the very best pre and post-natal care,” Mr Miles said in a statement.

The president of the Australian Medical Association, Dr Michael Gannon, said although some new mothers were happy to go home as soon as possible, others would benefit from more time in hospital to get used to breastfeeding, bond with their baby and ask questions.

“It’s extremely important that hospitals have discharge protocols and this is not at all an argument against sensible discharge times,” Dr Gannon told Guardian Australia last year.

“But we have seen a reduction in length of stay in public hospitals and even private maternity units over the years. As someone who has delivered thousands of babies over the years I have great sympathy and compassion for the difficulties that can occur once returning home.”

Healthy women who have experienced uncomplicated vaginal births can go home six hours after delivery. Women with uncomplicated caesarean procedures could be discharged after 72 hours.

We recently shared some SA mums are being sent home only 24 hours after giving birth by elective caesarean in a new trial. Read more on that here.

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  • Such a sad outcome for the family – Kismet was at work.

    Reply

  • in various types of major surgery, not just c-section clots may not cause issues for 3 months or more. I know of one such case. A few minutes later the person would have been driving a car on a main road. Fortunately that was not the case. However the patient was treated for approx 20 minutes by 2 Ambulance Crews (not one) before being rushed to hospital. At one point the crew doubted if they could reach the hospital quickly enough.

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  • So sad for her remaining family and bubs. I agree that women leave the hospital very quickly after birth and it’s worrying. But at the same time I understand wanting to be home, comfortable, without strangers constantly checking in on you when you want to sleep or rest.

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  • How heartbreaking for the family.

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  • Heartbreaking !
    We can’t predict complications. Early discharge after C-section should be ok when mum feels good, no signs of complications, has support at home and gets daily checked by the nurse at home the following week.

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  • I am of the older person opinion 7days in hospital should still be the rule still. Time fo baby and mum to rest,learn, heal and in this cas check up before leaving hospital. In this case it is a tragedy which might have been prevented. The governmnt need to ‘once again” take time to look into the funding of hospitals which is still the issue to be revamped and improved.
    So sorry to and best wishes go to family going through unhappiness and poor baby without a Mum

    Reply

  • This is a terrible outcome, but as far as I know, there is no way of predicting a blood clot before it happens.

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  • Such a heartbreaking end to what should have been a joyous time :( During my last delivery at MMH, I did find that there was a real push to discharge mums asap. But for the most part, the staff at Mater Mothers have always been amazing and every concern was taken seriously. They are so overworked but still do a great job. It is so sad that this went undetected and happened after the mum had left the hospital. I hope it prompts hospital management to redefine their priorities!

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  • 24 hours after a caesar is way too early! It’s major surgery!

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  • Poor woman. :-(

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  • There’s no way the medical staff could have predicted a blood clot. The mum wouldn’t have been discharged if the doctors thought there was any chance of issues

    Reply
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