‘I certainly remember each baby that I lost’: Leading SA obstetrician
John Svigos has delivered more babies in SA than he can remember and “like our patients we frequently replay critical delivery moments in our minds”.
Associate Professor John Svigos has delivered countless South Australian babies having worked as an obstetrician and gynaecologist since 1972.
He was in an airport preparing to return to Adelaide recently when a hostess stopped to show him a photo of her two babies (now much bigger) “who I had the privilege to deliver”.
“I think you can appreciate how very fortunate I feel to be able to practice my profession and this specialty,” he says.
“I have no idea how many babies I’ve delivered (the actual number trivialises the importance of each birth in my view) but I certainly remember each baby that I lost or on rare occasions when I lost a mother – very sobering.”
Today, Svigos shares a response to a heart-wrenching column by Marija Zivic published by InDaily – Zivic is a birth trauma survivor living in Adelaide who was formerly a senior political correspondent in Canberra’s national press gallery.
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How does this not tug at your heart strings?
I can only acknowledge yet again, as I have with my own wife and partner, how incredibly brave women are to not only contemplate pregnancy and childbirth but to repeat the experience in the face of a traumatic experience with their first birth.
As an experienced obstetrician I must share with you the profound regret, emotional distress and remorse that obstetricians feel when a patient experiences birth trauma, no matter how unintended and unavoidable this might be.
Like our patients we frequently replay critical delivery moments in our minds questioning our decisions during emergencies like fetal distress, shoulder impaction or postpartum haemorrhage.
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Witnessing a patient’s extreme physical or psychological distress makes a clinician continually rethink how they balance mother and baby safety, a patient’s choice and compassionate care during pregnancy and birth.
Obstetricians are trained to prevent tragedy, not to cause harm, but in trying to honour a patient’s birth plan when an acute clinical risk occurs, there is a feeling of helplessness experienced by both the patient and the clinician when the outcomes prove to be traumatic.
The positive in patients now being able to candidly and freely express their distress is that obstetricians have responded by better listening and honest debriefs with the patient and her support person or persons soon after the birth.
This enables a genuine and heartfelt apology to be given and a plan of action to deal with the physical or emotional trauma in the short and long term which may enable that essential requirement of trust to be restored.
Associate Professor Svigos continues to assist colleagues with surgery, continuing teaching commitments in Indonesia and reviewing training sites for the sector’s college (RANZCOG) amongst other duties.
Associate Professor John Svigos AM, MB,BS; DRCOG; CBioEth; FISOG (Hon); FRCOG;FRANZCOG. Consultant Obstetrician and Gynaecologist, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, Adelaide University. Visiting Professor Obstetrics & Gynecology, Medical Faculty, University of Udayana, Bali
South Australian Senator Marielle Smith has successfully led a move to establish a Senate select committee to examine aspects of women’s health. It will focus on postpartum healthcare in Australia, following Smith’s own documented difficulties after giving birth.
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