Breaking News
Scary birth ends happily
JANE IGOE
Wednesday 7 May, 2008 5:01pm
A TRAUMATIC birth at the Royal North Shore Hospital had a happy ending after a woman delievered her baby safely in the toilet of the hospital about 4pm on Monday.
Nick Patsidis, 28, said both he and his wife Kathy, 27, had been deeply traumatised by the birthing experience where his daughter Marissa was delievered without a midwife and with the umbilical cord around her neck.
The hospital has denied any wrongdoing, saying the birth was quick and staff were "on the ball."
Mr Patsidis claims his wife was induced in the birthing unit at about 2pm on Monday and had been in advanced labour for the following two hours.
"At about 4pm she said she wanted to go to the toilet and she said she felt like a bowling ball was coming out of her," he said during a media conference outside the hospital on Tuesday afternoon.
He said the midwife had left the room while his wife was in the toilet.
"I heard screams and I ran into the toilet and there's my baby girl being born with the umbilical cord around her neck and turning blue," he said.
Mr Patsidis said his wife was not given any vaginal examination by nursing or medical staff between 2pm and when the baby was born just after 4pm.
He said he had been consistently told by the nursing staff that they were "run off their feet" and "short-staffed".
Dr Michael Nicholl, the hospital's clinical director of women's children's and family health, said Mrs Patsidis had asked to use the bathroom and was questioned on several occasions before going there as to whether or not the baby was coming.
He said she had access to all call buttons which she had used.
He denied any wrongdoing on the part of the hospital or staff. Mr Patsidis said it was the couple's second child. Their son Thomas had been born at the Royal North Shore Hospital two years earlier. "This was definitely a very different experience," he said. "We were totally shocked and not prepared for what had happened this time."
