A Canberra mother says her experience giving birth at Canberra Hospital left her feeling disenfranchised and small, after she was shunted from room to room before being discharged too early.
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Giving evidence at a parliamentary hearing, she said she previously miscarried in the waiting room toilets at the hospital's emergency department, and left without ever seeing a doctor.
Natasha Shahidullah on Tuesday appeared before an inquiry into ACT's public maternity services.
The inquiry was launched after midwives and staff at Canberra Hospital penned an anonymous letter to the government saying patients' lives were being put at risk due to understaffing and poor management.
It prompted women to come forward and share their experiences of giving birth at the hospital.
Ms Shahidullah said she had experienced five miscarriages, including one where she miscarried in the waiting room toilets at Canberra Hospital emergency department. She said she never ended up seeing a doctor, even after being admitted to a bed.
She said doctors and nurses needed to be better trained to deal with patients experiencing symptoms of miscarriage.
"They were not equipped," she said.
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In another experience at the hospital, when her daughter was born, she said she was shunted from room to room and decisions were contrary to their health and well being.
She said a doctor tried to move the time of her induction forward without consulting her, after she had made an agreement to do it the next day.
Ms Shahidullah said the "douche" doctor refused to ever speak to her in person, instead relaying instructions through a midwife.
"I was made to feel disenfranchised and small and as if neither I nor my health outcomes or my baby's health outcomes mattered," she said in her submission.
After she gave birth by C-section, Ms Shahidullah said medical officers pushed for her to be discharged after two nights.
She was surprised as she had been told a three night stay after a cesarean was usually recommended.
"As lovely as the nurses and doctors were, clearly all they wanted was to move me on to free up the room regardless of whether that was the best patient care option," she said.
"This meant that I was discharged without anyone having weighed my baby or without my milk having come in."
She was visited at home and her baby was weighed and found to have lost 14 per cent of her body weight. Ms Shahidullah was admitted back to hospital but found the experience unsupportive and exhausting, with her husband not allowed to stay.
"I could barely look after myself, let alone my baby (and naturally my depleted, sleep-deprived, stressed body was not producing breastmilk)," she said.
Believing she could look after the baby better at home - where she wold have the support of her husband and mother - she checked herself and her baby out against advice.
"I'm a strong believer in our public health system and I've written this submission in the hopes that it will lead to improvements and better health and wellbeing outcomes for ACT women," she said in her submission.