-
Things need to change!
- Sep 12, 2009 at 3:31 AM
- By
- Comments (18) Total Views (544) Everyone can see this journal post.
Babies ARE NOT FETUSES! They are human beings, that is what they are from day one! I read this woman's story and omgosh! I cannot believe that there are people who would be like this, much less that these people work in hospitals. I don't care if you were just following the law, if a child is born alive HELP THEM! I pray for them to change this, please let's all pray to God for this change to come about.
Dear Heavenly Father, please give our doctors and care givers the compassion to help life no matter at what stage it is at. For them to understand that a baby is not a fetus, but a human being. Even if it means they lose their job and liscense, let them risk it all even to try to save one life. This we ask this of you oh Heavenly Father in Jesus Name we pray AMEN!
Here's the site her story is on:
There is also a Facebook site, jus type in Justice for Jayden in the search and God Bless.
Please vote this popular, this story NEEDS to get out to the world!
I am going to post the story below in case the link goes away someday.
****************************************************************************************************************
Doctors said I'd had a miscarriage and did nothing as my premature baby fought for his life
By Laura Topham
Last updated at 2:21 AM on 12th September 2009
Devastated: Sarah Capewell had to watch her baby die because he was too premature to receive treatment
Like all mothers, Sarah Capewell will never forget the first minutes she spent with her newborn baby.
She told her tiny son how much she loved him, gently kissed his face and took photos of him wrapped in the pretty blanket she'd bought for his birth.
Then she held him tightly in her arms and watched helplessly as his body grew cold and he finally stopped breathing. Sarah pleaded for help from hospital staff from the moment he was born, but none came.
Jayden died when he was just two hours old.
No help came because although mother and baby were surrounded by nurses and empty incubators, doctors had already decided her son would not be saved - not based on observation and assessment, but because under current guidelines paediatricians treat only babies born after 22 weeks gestation.
And he was born 48 hours before that threshold.
As Sarah was told when her waters broke one Wednesday last October, if she held out until the Sunday they would save her baby.
Jayden was born on the Friday - so paediatricians refused not only to treat him, but, shockingly, even to see him.
'When he was born breathing and moving, I begged the midwife to go and fetch the doctors,' says Sarah. 'I couldn't believe they'd be so callous as to leave him. But she returned from the critical care unit sobbing and shaking her head.'
It made no difference to doctors that her son was breathing unaided, waving his tiny fists around as he fought on alone for two hours.
According to medical guidance he was simply a miscarriage - a foetus - so he must be left to die.
To Sarah, who witnessed her son's battling strength and spirit, the decision not to help him is contemptible.
'My son could have been saved, but doctors simply chose not to,' says the 23-year-old from Farnmouth.
'It's horrendous. The doctors even refused to assess him. They said he was stillborn even though he was moving around in front of me, turning his head and waving his hands.
'If they had just put him in an incubator I'd have been happy - I wouldn't necessarily have wanted invasive treatment, only for him to receive some care.
'But they wouldn't, so while I battled desperately to keep Jayden warm with blankets, outside my room three incubators lay empty. We think he died from the cold, because premature babies can't hold their own heat.
Clinging to life: Jayden's tiny hand rests on his mother's thumb during the two hours he was alive
'Watching him stop breathing was like someone pulling out my heart and trampling over it. I went through every extreme of emotion.'
It is impossible to be unmoved by Sarah's agonising story, which was made public this week and is now inevitably reigniting the question of when treatment should be given to newborns.
Indeed, the online campaign Sarah started in January, which seeks to change the medical guidelines, has already attracted 270,000 supporters around the world.
Yet the medical profession remains adamant that current practice actually protects babies from unnecessary pain.
The guidance, published by the Nuffield Council on Bioethics in 2006 and backed by the British Association of Perinatal Medicine, says intensive care should never be given to babies below 22 weeks gestation, and rarely to those below 23 weeks.
My son was strong - he deserved to be given a chance
This is because babies born before this time very rarely survive, and only 1 per cent of those born between 22 and 23 weeks live beyond hospital - so doctors consider keeping them alive will only pointlessly prolong their suffering.
Campaigners counter this, however, with the argument that as such premature babies never receive care, these figures are not a fair reflection of their chances of survival.
Sarah points to the case of Amillia Taylor, a baby born in America at just 21 weeks and six days who was saved because doctors believed her to be a week older.
Now two years old, she is a healthy child with no apparent disabilities.
'My son was a strong baby, who was breathing on his own. He deserved a chance, at least,' says Sarah.
In fact, Jayden had already beaten the odds just by existing, as Sarah was told her chances of carrying another baby after her daughter Jodie, five, were very slim because she kept having unexplained miscarriages.
Left to die: Sarah said she should have been able to decide if her premature son was treated
While trying to conceive again, during an earlier relationship, she suffered five miscarriages before reaching eight weeks. So when she fell pregnant accidentally in May, with a boyfriend from whom she has since separated, she was shocked but delighted.
'I'd put the prospect of another child out of my head because I thought it was impossible,' says Sarah. 'I was really pleased but after so many miscarriages I was also very worried and tried not to build up too much hope.'
Knowing she needed to be careful, Sarah followed doctors' advice conscientiously and rested as much as possible, arranging for a friend to run her wedding services company.
But at 12 weeks she was admitted to hospital with pain and bleeding. Placental abruption was later diagnosed, a dangerous condition for both mother and baby that often results in premature birth.
She spent the next eight weeks in and out of hospital as the condition worsened, desperately hoping not to miscarry.
Thankfully, when her contractions began at 20 weeks and she was admitted to the delivery ward late last September, scans showed a healthy baby boy.
When Sarah went into labour the following Thursday, she was not surprised: she had spent months reading up on her condition, so she fully understood the risk of premature birth and how midwives would manage it.
But when she asked for the baby to be given steroids to strengthen his lungs before birth, the doctors broke the news that they would not be giving him any care because he was classed as a miscarriage.
'I couldn't believe what I was hearing,' says Sarah. 'I asked to be transferred to another hospital and they said that no hospital in the country would help. I felt so powerless; I wanted to get up and walk out but I couldn't move from my bed.
'The paediatricians kept telling me to consider that he'd probably be stillborn and even if he was alive he'd not be properly developed and would be badly disabled. I said I understood the risks and I still wanted them to treat him, but they refused.
'I said "If he's born alive you have to help him," but the doctor just replied "No, we don't. He isn't a baby - until 22 weeks he's a foetus. So we don't have to help."
Then he closed his folder and they all walked out of the room. 'I felt like I was banging my head against a brick wall. Nobody cared for the welfare of my child.'
At 1am on the Friday, Sarah's contractions suddenly increased, so she called the midwife who went to fetch blankets. By the time she returned Sarah had given birth to Jayden, who weighed 13.7 oz, and was alive.
Still angry: Sarah, pictured with her daughter Jodie, aged five
'The midwife cut the cord and said the movement might just be a reflex reaction, but when she checked she confirmed he had a heartbeat and was breathing.
'She asked me if I wanted to hold him, but I was too scared of hurting him so she brought him over, stroked his arm and said he was perfect and that I wouldn't damage him.'
Sarah assumed that since her son was breathing and moving, doctors would now help him - clearly he couldn't be considered a miscarried foetus. And he was large for his gestation, measuring 28 cm, the size of a 23-week-old.
'I was overcome with panic - pleading with the midwives to help. I thought the doctors would save him because he was doing so well - he even urinated, which showed that his organs were functioning.
'But when one midwife went to the special care unit to ask, she returned crying and stood in the door shaking her head. I asked "Are the doctors coming?" and she said "Just make the best of your time with him."
'It was unbearable, watching my son slowly die when he was surrounded by equipment and nurses that could have helped. At one point I thought about putting him in an incubator myself but I simply didn't know how.'
It was unbearable, watching my son slowly die when he was surrounded by equipment and nurses that could have helped
The hospital minister baptised Jayden at Sarah's request. 'After that I held my son and kept talking to him - telling him how much I loved him. I still hoped a miracle would happen and the doctors would change their mind at the last minute, but they didn't.'
So at 3.09am, after becoming very cold and starting to cry, Sarah's son stopped breathing.
'As soon as he died I felt this overwhelming sense of emptiness. When your child dies, part of you dies too.'
Nurses offered to take his body to the morgue, but Sarah asked them to wait until she had been discharged.
'A mother's instinct is to protect her baby - you don't want to leave him. Whether he's dead or alive that instinct doesn't change.
'I ended up holding him for over 16 hours, just cuddling him. I couldn't let him go.'
Doctors finally came to see Sarah, but their attitude only angered her more.
'They said "Sorry about your miscarriage" while I was holding my son in my arms - it was infuriating that they wouldn't even acknowledge he was a live baby. They kept referring to him as a foetus.
'I was told I couldn't have a birth certificate as it was a miscarriage, but when the doctor left the midwife went and found the policy that stated if an adequate attempt at life had been made then the child is entitled to a birth certificate.
Fighting for justice: A page set up by Sarah on Facebook campaigning for medical guidelines to be changed has received thousands of supporters
'I was very lucky because without that he might have been taken to the hospital incinerator and denied a funeral.'
Eventually, at 8pm on the Friday night, Sarah was discharged. 'When I said goodbye to him I could barely keep myself together. I hated leaving him on his own. I gave him a gentle kiss, put him back in the little Moses basket and walked out through the ward.
'All the other new mums and dads were cuddling their babies while I was just clutching two pieces of paper - one for my son's birth, and one for his death.'
Back home, Sarah slowly came to terms with what had happened, gradually packing away the toys and clothes she had bought for her son's arrival.
'I had to move the nursery things bit by bit from my room because it was so agonising. I kept a collection of special items: some photos, cards I'd received, hand and foot prints from the morgue and a journal I wrote.'
Sarah also started investigating whether legally the hospital had done anything wrong, looking up guidelines and medical research on the internet.
'It wasn't an obsession, but I couldn't focus on anything else. I wanted to stop anything like it happening again.'
When she registered the birth, and explained what had happened, the registrar referred Sarah to the coroner, who involved the police. But after meetings with the hospital, the police said that - while many people might find what happened morally unacceptable - it was legally right because doctors followed the set guidelines.
It should have been my decision whether my son was treated
Jayden's body was then released and his funeral took place a week later.
'All my family and friends came, as well as two midwives from the hospital. Everyone put a note or toy on his coffin and lit a candle. It was incredibly sad.'
In January, Sarah decided to set up an online group, Justice For Jayden, which has support from all over the world. However, it has elicited little response from the medical profession.
A spokesman for James Paget University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, where Jayden was born, said only: 'We have a duty to protect the confidentiality of our patients and as such, it is not our policy to comment on individual cases. Like other acute hospitals, we follow national guidance from the British Association of Perinatal Medicine regarding premature births.'
But Sarah says: 'It should have been my decision whether my son was treated - he is my flesh and blood. Doctors and midwives can walk away afterwards, but parents have to live with what happened every day for the rest of their lives.
'The risks should be discussed with parents beforehand, honestly and openly, so they can make an informed decision together with the doctors.
'I knew my baby could be disabled, and I was prepared for that - I'd still love him unconditionally, and I believe he could still have had a good quality of life.
'All I can do is try to get things changed to give other children like my son the best chance at life.
'But I don't think I'll ever stop being angry about how they left him to die.'
Comments:
Amen!!! Voting pop for you sweetie.
crying at work....so horrible
oh my goodness this is so sad i dont know what i would do if my baby was born like this.. God help this family and that little baby....Very sad
What a tragedy. My prayers go out to the family. God bless them all.
Unfortunately this is also practiced in the US as well. To me refusing care , no matter what the age is commiting murder plain and simple... not just morally wrong but ethically wrong.. especially when they have taken an oath to "do no harm". Sickening.
This was just heart-wrenching. After seeing him breath on his own, moving his limbs, AND seeing him capable of urination - it just breaks my heart that they wouldn't do anything for him. A life is still a life! Miscarriage my heiny! I wish her the best with her endevor to change the guidelines.
I am so sorry your child died, I know that even with the help if he would have recived it he may have died he should have been helped either way. I hope the laws there change. Here in america they give the babies a chance. I do belive in termination of pregancy's if a woman chooses to do so. I belive a mother has a right to tell a doctor to save her child and they should do so.
My son was born three months preminute and we were told he would not live thur the night because of the birth defect he was born with. He had no osphicis and his intestins was twisted and he had a form of lung dieases. Well we fought and had him sent to the childrens hospital in atlanta by heleacoptor and they saved my son devin. He is 14 now and he has had many different operiations and at twelve he stopped walking normally and needed major treatment and we had to fight the insurance company to get him the correct treatment and now he is back on his feet and looking great and one more major oporation to go to fix his legs so he can one day walk or run without pain. He has a diease called Spinal Mucsuler dystropy type 2. He is buetiful and i am going to keep you in my prayers and i am so sorry for your loss. I know the pain of begging for help for your son , i was just lucky that my husband had the people on hand to force them to treat our son and get him sent to another hospital. God bless you and may God Heal you and may you be blessed to have many other children .
I am adding her to my facebook friends. I cannot even imagine what she went through. How cold of them to do that. I will definitely prey things change but if Obama care gets passed things will only get worse for infnats and elderly.
It says doctors don't have to treat a baby born before 23 weeks but no where does it say they can't treat a baby before 23 weeks. It was 2 freakin' days! They should have came and looked at him, they should have seen what thier moral obligation was to that baby. I'm sure there are more cases of babies born before 23 weeks that really and truely don't have a chance but that baby made it 2 hours, sounds to me like he had a chance. That storey makes me very mad.
Already a member? Click here to log in
I am speechless...*tears*
- Lexylex
Message Friend Invite