Nine-Month Pregnant Woman May Not Have Lost Baby at NUH, Husband Apologises for Earlier Speculation
A week after a pregnant woman’s ordeal at the National University Hospital’s (NUH) emergency department (ED), where it was initially claimed that she lost her baby after allegedly being left unattended for two hours, her husband has provided an update on the situation.
In a Facebook post on March 31, Tham, the husband of the woman (identified as Lee), clarified that they now believe his wife may not have lost the baby at the emergency department. Tham expressed his gratitude towards NUH and explained that after meeting with hospital staff, it became clear that the miscarriage might not have occurred at the hospital.
Previously, Tham had shared that Lee was bleeding heavily at home before coming to NUH around 10:30 pm. He claimed that his wife was left unattended for two hours at the ED, with proper attention only provided after she was transferred to the maternity ward around 12:48 am. However, in his latest post, Tham explained that while Lee’s bleeding had subsided by the time she arrived at the hospital, it had not fully stopped.
He also acknowledged that nurses had been checking on his wife periodically and apologised for the speculation and backlash his initial post had caused against the hospital staff. Tham now thanks NUH for saving his wife and confirmed that they would not be making further comments on the matter.
In response to the incident, NUH had previously issued an apology for the two-hour wait. The hospital’s CEO, Aymeric Lim, explained that Lee’s bleeding had subsided upon her arrival, and although her condition was stable, her two-hour wait was unacceptable. Lim attributed the delay to the high workload caused by the pandemic, as NUH was also managing Covid-19-positive expectant patients.
NUH also noted that the loss of the fetus was due to placental abruption, a rare complication. The hospital stated it would review its processes to improve the management of expectant patients in the ED to prevent such incidents in the future.
