Your Baby Mattered, A parents right to choose what happens after a miscarriage

Your Baby Mattered, A parents right to choose what happens after a miscarriage

Started
24 September 2019
Signatures: 1,230Next goal: 1,500
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Why this petition matters

Started by Halina Parker

We all know someone who has lost a baby. To some it didn't matter how many weeks into the pregnancy they were, it was still a baby, still loved and still wanted. 

Miscarriage happens to 1 in 4 women. Every mother and father should have the right to give their baby the farewell they deserve. It is protocol of most hospitals to send remains to pathology, and parents should be asked what they would like to do to say their goodbyes and receive their closure. It is their baby. In that moment of heartbreak parents don't ask,

Our Story. "Baby A"

"December 18th  2018 We lost our little bub. After the miscarriage I still wasn't doing the best and was taken to Surgery to have part of the placenta removed. Once I got out, I asked the ward Doctor for the remains of my baby. I knew I had to have a social worker come to see me before signing the pathology release form. I was told after I miscarried about the hospitals protocol and all fetal remains were sent to pathology. I also knew about the remembrance rock wall in Toowoomba, where all the lost babies are cremated together and sent there for burial and a plaque is added to the wall. So parents had a place to go and say goodbye. A kind nurse gave me this information. And I wanted our baby to go there. The ward Doctor contact the Emergency department and pathology and came back to me to inform me that they couldn't find my baby. Only the placenta removed during surgery was there, but not my baby. Every women deals differently with a miscarriage. I took it especially hard. Even though I have had a miscarriage before. This hit me 50 times harder. The thought of my little baby in a bin with medical waste haunted me for weeks, months, nearly a year. I even went back to the hospital on the 29th of December looking for bins, I went to the emergency department looking for my baby weeks later. My mental health suffered. I wasn't showering, brushing my hair, or looking after myself. I ended up highly medicated and spent time in the mental health unit. My legal team ended my case because apparently prior mental health issues means I was suffering before hand. Before hand I was working, not medicated, Not put in the mental health unit, I was showering and brushing my hair. My long black hair was so matted it had to be cut off. I didn't get my closure. Some "people" from the Toowoomba Base Hospital called to say sorry about my experience. But I received no formal apology. Due to miscommunication and broken protocol, my little baby was thrown in the bin. Not having closure is damaging not matter the circumstances or the trauma. Everyone needs closure. I just didn't get mine"

We ask that a Bill be passed to give all parents the right to say goodbye if they choose too. leave it up to the parents to decide. All babies no matter the gestation should be kept (1 Week minimum) until the parents are ready to state their wishes. A Bill that requires health care professionals to ask the question that a grieving parent can't. It doesn't matter if the baby was 3 weeks, 10 weeks or 16 weeks gestation. A baby is still a baby. We hear the horror stories. And we hear the what if's? But yet, another lost baby is thrown in the bin. This needs to change, Parents should have the right to place their little baby in a memorial garden or have their own personal memorial. Many parents leave the hospital wondering what happens now? Where is my baby going? This doesn't help the grieving process. Many parents wished they had asked for their baby, but assume it is to late. Give the grieving parents a chance to know what their options are. 

Our unborn babies mattered. 

Please help by signing and sharing this petition to help create this bill for all families to give their lost babies a voice. And to give the families closure   

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Signatures: 1,230Next goal: 1,500
Support now