Add Category
Elahe Yazdani arrived in Australia as a refugee from Iran in 2020 completely alone, unexpectedly pregnant and in the middle of a global pandemic.
However, it was giving birth in a New South Wales hospital which she says was one of her most traumatic experiences.
Key points:
- Refugee mother says she didn't have access to a translator and was ignored at a NSW hospital
- Research shows refugees and migrants struggle to access translators and report "hostile treatment"
- There are calls for reform as part of a state birth inquiry
"For me, it's one of the saddest stories in my life."
Ms Yazdani said she faced language barriers, discrimination and was denied informed consent when giving birth to her son at Wollongong Hospital in 2020.
Before and after she went over her due date, Ms Yazdani said she was pressured to consent to an induction and was given consent forms to birth interventions to sign without a translator.
"I understand some but not completely," she said.
"I was [very] stressed and I was just trying to have my baby [so] I signed all the papers."
An intensive-care nurse in Iran, Ms Yazdani said when she finally was offered an over-the-phone translator while being prepped for a caesarean, she had enough medical understanding to know things were being incorrectly interpreted.
"I knew that when the interpreter was telling me what the doctor was saying, it was incorrect," she said.
Ms Yazdani said she felt ignored and disregarded during and after the birth, saying an epidural leak went undetected for hours despite her complaints of severe pain.
Left bed-bound following a second surgery to fix the leak, Ms Yazdani said her requests for staff to help feed and change her baby, give her some water and change her incontinence pad were ignored.
"I spent hours crying, begging for water and no-one came to give me anything."
She said an Australian woman in the room with her received constant attention, and it wasn't until she accused the staff of ignoring her because of her refugee status and race that she received care.
A spokesperson for the Illawarra and Shoalhaven Local Health District apologised that the hospital's care did not meet Ms Yazdani's expectations and said its Refugee Health Service was undertaking work to enhance culturally responsive care in maternity services.
NSW Health provides 24-hour access to professional interpreting services; the local health district said those were provided "depending on the facility, clinical priority and complexity of patient needs".
Broad concerns
A review of 27 studies on migrant women's experiences of maternity care in Australia published by the University of Melbourne in 2022 showed many struggled to access interpreters, experienced hostile treatment and did not feel able to give informed consent.
Bashi Kumar-Hazard, legal director of Human Rights in Childbirth Australia, said Ms Yazdani's case was typical and described refugees' experiences of birth as "dire".
"They're often told they have no choice but to have a C-section, they're told they'll be induced, not asked, they're told they'll be monitored," Ms Kumar-Hazard said.
"From their perspective, it's like they've been abducted by an alien.
"Someone has put them into a room where no-one speaks the language, communicates or makes eye contact with them and [they] do things to their bodies without their wishes."
Dr Hazel Keedle, a leading researcher in midwifery from the University of Western Sydney, said more research needed to be done into refugee and migrant women's experiences of maternity care in Australia.
"This group of women and families are more vulnerable and likely to experience mistreatment," she said.
Calls for change
Submissions to an inquiry into birth trauma in New South Wales close today.
One of them will be from Ms Yazdani, who has called for radical change to translation services in hospitals.
"We need to have medical interpreters — not just any interpreter to ensure the right information is being communicated," she wrote in her submission.
Ms Kumar-Hazard wants to see health departments mandate cultural-sensitivity training and legal reforms made that penalise obstetric violence.
"In that way, hospitals will be held directly responsible for violating someone's rights in this way," she said.
A NSW Health spokesperson said culturally and linguistically diverse women were consulted as part of a new blueprint for maternity care that was published in March, and that it welcomed the inquiry.
Loading