Mother gives birth to baby on birth clinic lawn after nurses turn her away

A disturbing photo of a mother grimacing in pain as she gives birth on the LAWN of a birth clinic has gone viral, raising questions as to why she was turned away by nurses in the first place…

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by Kayleigh Dray |
Published on

This truly disturbing photo of an indigenous Mexican woman and her newborn baby - lying in the grass and still attached by the umbilical cord - made the front page of La Razon De Mexico this week. And, as it turns out, the poor woman was forced to give birth on the lawn outside a birth clinic because the facility's nurses had turned her away when she arrived asking for help.

The shocking image, snapped by a passer-by, quickly went viral on Facebook and Twitter, sparking a national debate which led to the suspension of the head of the clinic that turned Irma López Aurelio away.

So how did this happen in the first place?

Irma woke up in her home just before dawn on the 2nd of October, disturbed by her increasingly strong contractions, woke her husband and walked through the darkness to the closest health centre in the nearby town of San Felipe Jalapa de Díaz.

"I didn't want to deliver like this. It was so ugly and with so much pain."

By the time the couple arrived, according to La Razon, Irma was fully dilated and her waters had broken. Yet, when nurses examined her, they did not admit her to the cline, instead subjecting her to a two hour wait for treatment. Apparently, according to staff, they were too short-handed to offer assistance.

Irma and her husband, who are from the Sierra Mazateca region where Spanish is not widely spoken, only understood the word “no” and so retreated outside, where Irma, then in full labour pains, continued to pace back and forth as she waited and hoped that a nurse or doctor would call them back in for treatment.

Irma and her baby son have since received medical care
Irma and her baby son have since received medical care

As time passed, the inevitable happened; Irma went into full labour pains. Dropping to her knees on the grass outside the clinic, she started pushing (as a mother of two, she knew it was time) and screaming in pain. Eloy Pacheco Lopez, alerted by the cries, ran out and took a photo in the seconds after Irma had given birth, her tiny baby still attached to her via the umbilical cord.

Then, and only then, did staffers from the health centre run out to help the woman, and she and her healthy newborn were soon inside getting the care and treatment they needed, La Razon reports.

"I didn't want to deliver like this. It was so ugly and with so much pain," admitted Irma, revealing she was alone for the birth because her husband was trying to persuade the nurse to call for help.

Eloy Pacheco López shared the image he snapped on Facebook, writing that "after waiting and demanding attention for two hours, she gave birth in the yard of the hospital after being ignored by personnel under the direction of the supposed doctor Adrian René Cruz Cabrera."

And, unsurprisingly, the clinic has called for the suspension of Dr Adrian Cruz, the director of the health clinic, while officials conduct state and federal investigations into the incident.

"Women are not receiving proper care. They are not being offered quality health services, not even a humane treatment."

Oaxaca Health Secretary German Tenorio has said that staff were preparing a room for delivery (they do not have an emergency delivery room), even going outside to find Irma, but “when they went out to look for her they didn't find her.” He also suggested that Irma “has problems understanding Spanish,” but also insisted that does not justify the mix-up.

However, while Oaxaca staff insist they did everything they could for Irma, many believe that the case illustrates the shortcomings of maternal care in Mexico, where hundreds of women still die during or right after pregnancy.

Mayra Morales, Oaxaca's representative for the national Network for Sexual and Reproductive Rights, also suggested that the case shows that discrimination against Mexico's indigenous people persists.

Irma has taken her baby son home to meet her two other children

"The photo is giving visibility to a wider structural problem that occurs within indigenous communities: Women are not receiving proper care. They are not being offered quality health services, not even a humane treatment."

Irma and her little boy are, thankfully, healthy and well, and have returned home to their village: "I am naming him Salvador," she said, a name that means ‘Savior’ in English. "He really saved himself."

Do you think there is any excuse for the treatment Irma received on 2nd October? Should the health clinic's director be suspended, or should blame be passed onto the nurses who told Irma to wait outside? Let us know your thoughts in the Comments Box below - we'd love to hear what you think.

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