A distraught woman has revealed she suffered a tragic stillbirth just hours after her crippling pain was dismissed by hospital staff.
Maricel Prado, from Perth’s Wellard, was 38 weeks pregnant when she was admitted to Fiona Stanley Hospital in February after she began experiencing pain.
The 30-year-old was expecting a healthy full-term IVF baby – but just two hours later, her baby daughter Ysabella no longer had a heartbeat.
‘I’ve tried to be strong but deep inside I can’t,’ she told 7News.
Maricel Prado shared a distressing footage of herself cradling her baby daughter Ysabella after she was tragically stillborn earlier this year
The 30-year-old spoke of her anguish after her baby no longer had a heartbeat at 38 weeks
After one failed IVF attempt, Mrs Prado and her husband Dennis were overjoyed when they finally fell pregnant with their first child.
Mrs Prado claimed at over 38 weeks, she attended the hospital in pain but staff tried to send her home to wait.
But she decided to remain at the hospital because she was feeling uneasy after her pain worsened. The nurses then gave her pain relief.
‘She just asked me if I wanted morphine and I said “yes”. I didn’t ask anything at all after that because I trusted her,’ she said.
After being told she was in labour, she was given a spare bed before staff left her unattended.
But just two hours later, little Ysabella was stillborn.
Taking to Facebook, the grieving mother shared a distressing footage of herself cradling her stillborn daughter as she broke down in tears.
‘Whilst I was at the hospital during labour, I felt that the midwives were not monitoring me and our baby, as they should have been doing especially after I was administered morphine,’ Mrs Prado said.
‘But I thought I have to put my trust in the hospital staff to take care of me and our baby. It is difficult for us to come to terms with the fact that we believe our baby’s death could have been avoided.’
The expectant parents had decorated their daughter’s nursery room before she stillborn
An internal investigation found several factors may have contributed to the baby’s death, including the hospital being understaffed when the mother was admitted, 7News reported.
Other factors included lack of communication between staff, the unit was busy at the time and an admission form was not completed.
Director of clinical services Dr Paul Mark, of South Metropolitan Health Services, expressed his sincere condolences to the family.
‘On behalf of Fiona Stanley Hospital, I would like to express my sincerest condolences to Mr and Mrs Prado at this extremely difficult time,’ he told Daily Mail Australia in a statement.
‘An investigation into the circumstances surrounding Mrs Prado’s time in the maternity unit has been completed.
‘This found there were shortcomings in the risk assessment of Mrs Prado.
‘This may have led to a missed opportunity for closer monitoring of Mrs Prado and her baby, although it could not be determined if this would have changed the very sad outcome.
‘Again, I would like to express our sincerest condolences to Mr and Mrs Prado.’
The grieving mother showing her late baby daughter’s wardrobe after she tragically died
By sharing her story, Mrs Prado said nothing will ever bring her baby daughter back but she hoped no other family goes through the same suffering.
‘An apology won’t make things right,’ she said.
‘It won’t bring our baby back. But by identifying what we believe are failings and lessons from our baby’s death, I hope steps will be taken to improve maternity care and ensure no other parent loses a baby the same way to us.’