She died almost after giving birth in Karolinska in Solna

“Exposed to racism”

Of: Malin Wigen

Published: August 30, 2020 at 6:22 p.m.
Updated: August 30, 2020 at 6:35 p.m.

Asha, 23, nearly lost her life after giving birth. She says no one took her pain seriously.

Instead, he heard derogatory comments about his ethnicity.

– People are not treated this way. That you would almost have to die to give birth. It’s crazy.

Dear

Have you been discriminated against in maternity care because of your ethnic origin? We want to hear your story. Email [email protected]

In early November last year, 23-year-old new mother Asha arrived at Karolinska Hospital in Solna. With her was a doula (support person) and a birth certificate in which she expressed her desire for a birth as natural as possible.

– I really wanted to give birth despite being afraid. But everything went wrong from start to finish.

It started with her receiving a stimulating trickle of pain against her will. This was followed by a series of polls in which she did not feel involved.

– I don’t understand why they chose to run over me and my wishes. He felt uncomfortable. He was in a position where he didn’t have the strength to protest.

“He said that people in my country have children all the time.”

Asha’s son was born using a suction cup. He wanted to shake the placenta, but got no response. Instead, he had the feeling that he was being pulled out of his body. In aftercare, Asha had a new midwife.

– My stomach hurt a lot right after giving birth and I pointed it out to her. She just said that I should rest. But I couldn’t sleep. I told him that I had chills, dizziness and felt like I had a fever. I was not feeling good.

Asha, who had swollen legs, was once again advised to rest. But the pain was too unbearable. The midwife said the pain could be due to congestion from the flour.

– But I had pain in my stomach and not in my breasts.

The next day, the symptoms had not passed. Asha received Alvedon and ibuprofen every three hours when she was in so much pain. Two days passed in pain and Asha asked for an exam, but the midwife did not listen.

– She ignored me, I saw in her body language that she didn’t care. She felt like she thought she was exaggerating. I complained of pain, but she decided not to investigate the error. Instead, she made inappropriate comments and asked why I have such young children. Her daughter had no children and was older than me. She said that people in my country have children all the time and do nothing with their lives.

– He was drowned. He was in a vulnerable situation and she said so. I think it was weird, don’t do that. I regretted that he did not take me seriously, I had no right to comment like that about my private life.

“He floated between life and death”

The midwife said that Asha would be sent home by taxi, something Asha did not want to accept. She was still sick.

– I told her that I would ask for help if she did not intend to help me.

Instead, they gave him a morphine tablet. Immediately after Asha took it, she screamed that she was going to die, that she couldn’t breathe.

– I saw three people in the room, then I collapsed. Then I remember waking up with the use of defibrillators and a doctor yelling: Asha, Asha, are you awake? Asha says with tears in her eyes.

He ended up in septic shock, a life-threatening condition, and all of his organs were failing. It was the remains of the placenta that triggered this, the so-called GAS bacteria had caused an infection in the uterus. Nine bags of blood were consumed and Asha went into cardiac arrest twice.

– The infection reached my heart, I spent eight days between life and death. According to the doctor, I would not have lived today if I took one more minute before getting help, it felt horrible to hear.

Asha was in a coma. Her values were bad and no one knew if she would wake up again.

– During this period, it was not me who experienced a trauma, not even my family members. My mother went to BB to get replacement milk for my baby. Then she told the midwife that she was in the intensive care unit and that she was very seriously ill. Then the midwife said that my mother did not have to be sad if I died, because she had several children at home and a grandson.

– It was as if my life had no value.

Guessed she was circumcised

For Asha, it was a difficult period after she woke up from the coma. Neither heart, motor skills, speech, nor psyche were the same. She couldn’t even take care of basic hygiene on her own, or eat. At the same time, she heard comments that made her uncomfortable.

– The first time I was able to carry my son and walked down the hospital corridor, a gynecologist stopped me. He said: What a cute boy you have. Whenever you see 18-year-olds who come from countries like you and you ask them if it is the first child, they tell you that it is the fifth.

– I received several comments from different people on the care staff based on the color of my skin and how I look, even though I was born in Sweden.

When Asha had trouble with her catheter and asked if it was common to have trouble urinating after giving birth, she got the answer that it was probably because she was circumcised.

– I’m not circumcised. They only adopted it because of my ethnicity, which is Somalia. But then I said no, that I was very tired of everything. They just apologized and then didn’t say anything else.

“Don’t you dare give birth again”

It has been almost a year since the incident. The recovery has been long. Just two months ago she was able to hold her son for the first time without pain. She suffers from post traumatic stress, the memories are painful.

– I arrived there as a healthy 22-year-old woman and came home with great complications and a trauma that I will carry with me for the rest of my life. I can’t even visit the hospital, especially not where I was, I tremble every time I have to go there. I don’t dare give birth again, I’m afraid they won’t listen to me.

She has informed the patient board, which did not proceed with the report. You have now appealed and will take the matter to DO and IVO. You want the hospital to admit that they made mistakes and broke their routines.

– I direct the biggest criticism to the midwife who thought it was okay to speak disparagingly about the people of my country. I sincerely hope that you will be ashamed of your obviously unprofessional behavior, because it was your inability to assess my clinical situation that caused my collapse. I should have made sure that they examined me and took me seriously when I told them about my severe pain, because then the situation could have been different.

Asha doesn’t think she is alone in experiencing racism from healthcare professionals.

– There is a lot of racism that is expressed in healthcare, that you get fired and don’t take you seriously. I hope that in the future you learn from what happened to me, that’s why this tells me. Healthcare staff can have their opinions at home, but when they’re at work, I hope they treat people the same and provide safe care.

Karolinska: takes discrimination seriously

Åsa Wijkström, operations manager for Tema Kvinnohälsa, writes in an email that they are unable to comment on the individual case regarding patient confidentiality, but are genuinely sorry that the patient feels that they have not been treated properly.

Karolinska takes all types of discrimination very seriously and there is a code of conduct that all employees must follow. We have routines for tracking reported deviations or when a patient is not satisfied with the care or treatment they have received, ”he writes in the email.

Dear

Have you been discriminated against in maternity care because of your ethnic origin? Email [email protected]

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Published: August 30, 2020 at 6:22 p.m.

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