Chihuahua, Chih.- The least thing that can happen at the time of childbirth is to face demeaning words and phrases such as: “mija”, “doña”, “mommy”, “you are an asshole”, “let’s see if you take care of yourself now”, ” You didn’t let me have lunch”, “what beautiful legs you have”, among others; until contracting a serious infection due to medical negligence, which can lead to the death of the mother or her baby.
In accordance with the State Law on the Right of Women to a Life Free of Violence; Obstetric violence is any intentional act or omission on the part of health personnel that, in the exercise of their profession or trade, damages, hurts, or denigrates women during pregnancy, childbirth, or the puerperium.
This also encompasses acts of medical care negligence by altering the natural process of low-risk labor through the use of acceleration techniques; as well as practice delivery via cesarean section when conditions exist to carry out natural childbirth.
Regularly, this occurs in places that offer medical services and occurs in all spheres of society.
In Chihuahua, this is a reality and although in most cases, women do not usually report due to a normalization in these violative acts; Currently, the State Attorney General’s Office (FGE) has nine investigation folders for the crime of improper practice of the medical service.
The foregoing happened in a period from 2019 to 2023. Similarly, the State Human Rights Commission (CEDH) has, in that same period, another nine complaints and three recommendations against the Ministry of Health for aggressions and omissions.
The first of them was issued in 2019; for events that occurred in 2016 when the victim underwent surgery in September 2016, through the Seguro Popular medical service to give birth to a male by caesarean section; apparently without any complications.
Eight months later, the mother’s health declined, she lost a lot of weight, had constant nausea and detected a bulge in her belly.
After various studies and after receiving private medical attention, a foreign body was located that turned out to be surgical material with the urgent need to be operated again.
In addition, the woman had a large part of her small intestine removed, as a result of which she suffered a very complicated convalescence and many difficulties in recovering her health, with physical sequelae and a wide variety of side effects.
After analyzing the facts and the procedures carried out, there was sufficient evidence to prove the Violations of the Right to Health Protection, as well as Legality and Legal Security.
In that same year, the second complaint was issued due to the lack of attention given to a female person, who lived in Ciudad Delicias.
She was never treated in a timely, comprehensive and continuous manner and regarding the birth of her son, she did not receive due prenatal care or the medical attention that her serious state of health required, of which she never received the inherent information, nor the causes of his passing.
In 2020, the victim’s husband went to the Commission and indicated that his wife was admitted to the Women’s Hospital in Ciudad Juárez because she went into labor, since their daughter was already more than nine months pregnant.
While hospitalized, she began with contractions and some bleeding, for which her doctor gave the order to perform a cesarean section the next day; However, the doctors on duty ignored her instructions and left her hospitalized for three days because they insisted that she give birth naturally. In the end, she unfortunately lost her baby. In 2021, she also registered complaint number nine; On this occasion, the woman went to the emergency area of the Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital in Hidalgo del Parral, since she was 40 weeks pregnant and had contractions for around eight hours.
Despite the fact that a doctor indicated the need to carry out a cesarean section; In said hospital, she was forced to have a prolonged natural birth, without being attended by personnel specialized in gynecology, which caused her son to be born with multiple effects on her health.
OTHER VICTIMS
Although these are some cases in which there is a precedent before the authorities; these are not the only ones. There is also the testimony of Erika, who according to her words, giving birth was a horrific experience and that all she wanted was to give birth and run away from there; that without counting the feeling of shame that she felt at that moment.
“In my first pregnancy I was a minor; I went to the hospital alone when I already had contractions (I knew it from everything they had told me, they had also already told me the urban legends of how they treat you in the public hospital, so according to me, I was already psychologically prepared)”, she says Erika.
At that moment, she decided not to tell her parents anything so as not to worry them and when she arrived at the clinic the emergency doctor checked her from everything to everything.
“The doctor told me: “if it already brings dilation we are going to leave it. I spent the whole day hospitalized and almost every hour different doctors came and examined me, one even came in with practitioners and had them practice with me; They began to check my dilation and I don’t know how much (they were always men), I felt more and more shame and pain from the contractions but the shift change began and no one peeled me anymore and I didn’t want to make a scandal because I was already afraid founded that if I coughed it would make me worse”.
This woman had already talked with other friends who told her that doctors get angry with scandalous women, so she preferred to put up with it; she endured the pain until she felt that her baby was already coming out. It was there that she began to put pressure on the nurses who spoke to the gynecologist.
“Indeed, it was already giving birth. They took me to the “iron” or I don’t know what it’s called and despite the fact that she was already giving birth, the gynecologist calmly put on his gown and all his surgical clothes. I remember I was just trying to stop the baby from coming out; I was also crying from helplessness, shame, pain, fear etc. and the doctor still scolded me,” the victim recalled.
According to what Erika remembers, the doctor told her: “You don’t even scrub it anymore, you won’t let me put on my full surgical suit; Do you see that this is not just anything? Let’s see if I don’t have you here again after nine months. That’s what they all say, that they will take care of themselves so as not to feel this pain and in less than a year they are here again.
At that moment, Erika felt ashamed, judged, outraged, and objectified, although she was unable to identify those emotions until later.
“I blocked it and normalized it; What’s more, I even told it with pride because the women around me at that time saw me as “how brave” it even seemed that the more tragic you had the birth, the more woman you were. Now that I am in deconstruction, I see it differently, I remember it and I feel ugly; It is terrible that in a moment of vulnerability they treat you like this and well, now I no longer tell it with pride, I tell it with importance and frustration”.
TO KNOW
Regarding this issue, Néstor Armendáriz, president of the State Human Rights Commission, stated that this is a form of violence that was not very visible until a few years ago.
“We have dealt with some cases of obstetric violence; and we even have some recommendations, however, we believe that it is very important that it be made visible as one more form of the different types of violence against women because it is based on gender; So much so that this type of violence cannot be presented to the detriment of men, ”said the head of said organization.
In that same sense, the defender pointed out that it is necessary to move forward on this issue and try to combat all the different forms of violence against women and verify that the health authorities work under the specific official Mexican standards for the care of women. during pregnancy, childbirth and the puerperium; as well as for the newborn person.
“It is important that the health sector promotes training within its personnel; We could enter and we have done it in an isolated way to talk about the rights of patients or users of health services and more specifically with regard to obstetric violence, I think that more knowledge is required ”.
