"life's a bitch"

Miscarrying woman told 'life's a bitch' - Yahoo!7 News

A Sydney woman told by a doctor "life's a bitch" as she miscarried her baby in a NSW hospital, is traumatised, her husband says.

The woman is the latest to reveal her harrowing story of poor treatment while miscarrying in the state's public hospitals.

Two women came forward on Friday, saying they had been treated poorly during their ordeal.

One woman, who does not want to be named, was 12 weeks pregnant when she went to Sydney's Prince of Wales Hospital on December 30 after discovering she was bleeding.

Once at the hospital's emergency department she waited 30 minutes before being briefly seen by a junior doctor who asked if she was pregnant, her husband Garry told AAP.

After conducting blood tests, the doctor told the woman to come back the next day and see the early pregnancy clinic.

"She said that's all they could do for us," Garry said.

"We then proceeded to get up out of the waiting room that she had us in and she tapped my wife on the shoulder and said, 'Life's a bitch'.

"She said, 'I'd suggest you could have a glass of wine but I know you can't. That's all we can do.'"

Garry said he and his wife had both worked as nurses and received excellent care for a previous miscarriage and an ectopic pregnancy.

But nothing had prepared them for the treatment they received that day, he said.

"As nurses, we know how the ER (emergency room) works and we know they're busy," he said.

"But the fact that we were patronised to a degree, the fact they asked my wife if she was pregnant was really downgrading.

"To lose a child is one of the most traumatic experiences any woman can go through."

News of their ordeal came just hours after a Broken Hill woman revealed she miscarried in a NSW hospital toilet when she was 23 weeks pregnant with twins on December 17.

Greater Western Area Health Service CEO Dr Claire Blizard said an internal investigation into the management of Michelle Corradini's case had begun.

"As part of the investigation, we will be reviewing our processes to ensure that women in this situation are appropriately cared for," she said in a statement.

At least another three women have complained about the care they received while miscarrying at Maitland Hospital in the NSW Hunter Valley.

New protocols say women suspected of miscarrying should be transferred immediately to a maternity ward.

They were developed after a government inquiry into the case of Jana Horska, who miscarried in a toilet at Sydney's Royal North Shore Hospital in September 2007.

Opposition health spokeswoman Jillian Skinner said the incidents were indicative of a systemic problem.

"I don't think it's isolated and what's really appalling is the government made a big play out of their new protocol," she told reporters.

"It's a case of emergency staff run off their feet, not providing the empathetic kind of treatment that people expect of our caring professions."

Health Minister John Della Bosca could not be reached for comment.