NSW HEALTH has admitted it was insensitive to a woman who was sent to a toilet cubicle on her own to dispose of her 14-week foetus after she arrived at a hospital emergency department suffering a miscarriage.
Jodie Whiteside, 30, was rushed to Maitland Hospital last month after she began to give birth prematurely.
In pain and "cowering" at the triage desk, Ms Whiteside says she was sent to a bathroom to provide a urine sample. She says she was told by the nurse to dispose of the foetus in the toilet if necessary. While there she miscarried and flushed the foetus away.
On arrival, Ms Whiteside said she was "in a lot of pain, cowering over the counter" while she was repeatedly asked for her personal details by a "woman who was very insensitive".
"I felt I was treated like I had a sprained ankle. I said that I saw the baby coming away and [a nurse] proceeded to take my blood pressure and my temperature and she gave me a plastic pot and said 'I need a urine sample.' "
Ms Whiteside said she was forced to walk, covered in blood, through a crowded waiting room, with the foot still protruding, to reach the toilet. The foetus came out onto her hands and she flushed it away. She does not know if it was male or female.
