My whole pregnancy was a nightmare for me, all because of doctors’ neglect.

First I would like to tell you this all happened 45 years ago, 1977. I was only 17 years old when I got pregnant. I missed two periods, so I went to the doctor and told him I thought I might be pregnant. He told me to get up on the table and he checked me with his hand, and said yes you are pregnant. I do not believe there is any way he could tell by this method. 

Anyway, he sent me home with no blood work, no urine, no advice—nothing. I did not see him again until I was 6 1/2 months because I lost my amniotic fluid—it must have been at least a gallon of clear liquid came out of me walking across the floor at my aunt’s house. My aunt knew there was something very wrong. She took me right to the doctor. Again he told me to get up on the table and with his hand he told me I was fine and that I must have peed my pants. I told him “no, doctor, I did not pee my pants.” But again, no bloodwork, no investigating. Nothing, 

I decided I needed a new doctor and I wanted a woman doctor. So I did get a new doctor at seven months and I told her all that had happened so far. She also did no bloodwork and sent me home saying everything was okay. 

But I was throwing up everything I ate and everyone was telling me that this was normal, so I did not see a doctor about it. This was not morning sickness—it was four times a day, everything I ate.

I didn’t see that doctor again until I went into labour at nine months. I had a bad labour and a lot of pain. A man came in after four hours of labour to check my fluid sack, he said he was going to break my fluid sack, so he had this big knitting needle type thing, and he put it up inside of me and he said “you do not have any amniotic fluid.” 

I told him “No, I lost that at six and a half months.” 

You need to realise I was only 17 when all this happened to me. I trusted that the doctors knew what they were doing. 

I was in labour for nine hours, and it was a hard labour and a dry birth. I never saw my baby until 6pm and I had her at 8am. The doctor let an intern sew me up, without asking me. The intern was down there for a long time, at least an hour, and the doctor kept telling him “no not there, no don’t do that, do this.” 

After an hour, I said to her “please, doctor, if he doesn’t know what he is doing would you please do it yourself, and she told me, “you shut up or I will sew you up for good.” 

I was in shock, and never said another word, after an hour and 1/2 she told me I had 120 stitches.

My poor baby was born so ill, she had a very hard time breathing, and I know now it was because her lungs were not developed, her skin was burnt raw, from the lack of amniotic fluid. They sent me home with the sickest baby, the first day I had her home she stopped breathing and turned blue. It scared me to death, I just gave her to my mother and screamed, and she started to breathe again. It was everything I could do to keep her alive, and it took five years to get something that worked on her skin. She is thirty-six years old today and still needs puffers and has very dry skin. 

—Donna Pineo