Charming NHS worker abuses woman for needing a Caesarian

Go NHS and get treated like cattle

A pregnant woman about to have a Caesarean after a difficult three-day labour was sworn at by a hospital worker who demanded to know why she couldn’t give birth naturally, a hearing was told today. Samantha Shepherd was told that her baby’s life would be in danger if she didn’t have a Caesarean. But the conversation with her doctor was interrupted when Nigel Baglin, a surgery assistant, stormed into the room and shouted “F****** hell, why can’t women in this hospital give birth naturally?”

Mr Baglin, an anaesthetic support agency worker at Newham University Hospital, East London, crashed his trolley into the door of the room during the outburst, the competence committee hearing heard. The worker said he made the comments because he was “aghast” at the number of Caesarian sections being carried out at the hospital. “It was like every patient on the ward wanted one and had consented to them. “As a personal opinion, I did not think this was natural. It was a sarcastic comment aimed at the doctor and it was a mistake on my part,” Mr Baglin, who now works in Derby, said.

Mrs Shepherd, a mother of three, said she already had reservations about the Caesarean and was left devastated by the confrontation. “I felt I was a complete failure,” she said. “I was really nervous about having the baby. I had two previous births naturally. Every woman has a plan and this labour was not going along as hoped,” she said. “The doctor was explaining that I needed to have a second epidural when he (Mr Baglin) entered the room and banged the door with his trolley.” She said everyone in the room heard his outburst. “He stormed out and everyone was in shock. I felt worthless and told my husband I was a complete failure.” She said she would not use the hospital if she fell pregnant again.

Mr Baglin said the outburst was not intended personally. He said: “It was an off-the-cuff comment. I admit it was inappropriate but I was being rushed around.” But a witness said Baglin’s comments were directed straight at Mrs Shepherd. The woman said: “He was so angry you could see the veins in his neck. He wanted to be an exhibitionist and he wanted it to be heard.”

After the incident in February last year, the hospital reported Mr Baglin’s outburst to his agency, and said it would not employ him in future. Mr Baglin told the inquiry at Park House, Kennington Park Road, south east London, he resigned from his work at the hospital the day after the incident when a formal complaint had been made against him. A panel on the committee will rule whether Mr Baglin’s fitness to practise is impaired. The hearing continues.

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Australia: Deadly danger of hospital overflow

TASMANIANS could die because of ambulance delays and paramedics say there is nothing they can do about it. Angry paramedics parked their ambulances outside the Royal Hobart Hospital's Argyle St entrance yesterday to highlight the problem of "ramping". Ramping refers to when patients are forced to stay on an ambulance stretcher because there are no hospital beds free. "Overnight we had crews who were ramped for nine hours out of a 14-hour shift," one paramedic said. "They just get snowed under."

Another said ambulance officers were "baby-sitting" seriously ill patients because there were no beds for them. "We're getting ramped even with people with chest pains," he said. "There is no doubt people will, or already have, died because of this problem," another ambulance officer said.

The Health and Community Services Union said there were 36 patients in 33 cubicles in the RHH emergency department early yesterday. Nineteen of those patients were waiting to be admitted and some were given intravenous antibiotics in the waiting room. "This situation is nothing short of appalling," said HACSU assistant state secretary Tim Jacobson. "Some months ago the RHH established a committee to look at reducing the incidence of ramping. This committee has not produced any results."

He said providing extra nurses and opening beds would solve the problem. But Health Minister Lara Giddings said it was not that easy. "We are asking staff to work overtime to ensure that beds are not closed, but when you've got staff sick as well and you're already having to stretch your resources to cover the existing beds, it's certainly not an easy thing to just simply open up more beds," Ms Giddings said.

She said a flu outbreak was exacerbating the problem. "At the moment we've got around 35 nurses who are away on sick leave and we have increased admissions to our medical wards as well," Ms Giddings said. "This is putting strain on the hospital and it is impacting on ambulance ramping too."

RHH spokeswoman Pene Snashall confirmed the emergency department experienced "high demand" on Tuesday night. "There's no rhyme or reason," she said. "Saturday night was our quietest Saturday in months."

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