Diabetes and pregnancy in the news..

[McMittens]

I don't know if anyone else has seen/read this? I hate to link DailyMail but really thought I should link this...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ailed-control-diabetes-properly-pregnant.html

 

[noblehead]

Such a tragic story

 

[zand]

Words fail me....if a nurse can't control her BG's what hope is there for the rest of us? Wouldn't you think a nurse would know how to avoid this? This is truly tragic on lots of levels.

 

[Brunneria]

Poor little mite.

 

[Randburg]

Tragic, but obvious lack of control by the mother, who should have been even more aware being in the Medical field.
It would have been interesting to see what her HbA1c level was at the time, as that's the only true Glucose test in my opinion

 

[tim2000s]

What I hate about this is the daily mail spin on it. Looking at the article, there are multiple people at blame here, but, and I'm sorry to say it, the mother is ultimately responsible.

It demonstrates very well the lack of joined upness. The diabetes clinic knew she was poorly controlled, the antenatal clinic probably had this information too. They didn't talk properly, and regular Hba1c tests would have made it very obvious. You then have the lack of anyone with enough balls to say to her "If you don't get your sugars under control, you are going to kill your baby".

On top of that, she seemed to have no idea about how to control her own sugars, which is criminal for a nurse really. I wouldn't want to be on a ward where a diabetic nurse didn't know what she was doing.

While it is tragic it is also horribly damning about people and the NHS.

Good god, I wish people would take some responsibility.

 

[phoenix]

I don't think that this has anything to do with being a nurse or whatever . It's difficult for any pregnant woman with T1 .
It is one of many tragic occurrences. Most don't get reported as many result in miscarriage or stillbirth so don't end up at an inquest let alone be reported in the National press.
I feel desperately sorry for the woman who seems to be being pilloried in this article. She is a woman who has lost her baby and is being made out to be reckless.

She struggled with her diabetes and became pregnant by mistake. That was a big red flag that her pregnancy was high risk . Hospitals normally provide pre pregnancy planning and advice . it's so important to have good levels before the pregnancy even starts and in the first trimester . Those trying to conceive should have good control and even need to take more folic acid than most mums to be. Even on here I have read of some young women being advised that it wasn't in the best interests to continue with a pregnancy.

Women with diabetes who are planning to become pregnant should be informed that establishing good glycaemic control before conception and continuing this throughout pregnancy will reduce the risk of miscarriage, congenital malformation, stillbirth and neonatal death. It is important to explain that risks can be reduced but not eliminated

Targets for pregnancy are very tight (3.5- 5.9 before meals and 7.8 at one hour), very hard to maintain whislt at the same time avoiding hypos . Ketones have to be avoided The metabolism is changing so much what worked last week may not work this. Ketones also have to be avoided but ketosis can occur at quite low levels in pregnancy.
She 'forgot' her readings, well maybe she was scared of judgement rather than help . Did not obstetrics liaise with the diabetes dept in this obviously very high risk pregnancy ?.I know you can download my pump, I don't know about hers but that would have been an obvious way forward as would taking her into hospital for a while to help establish control (someone in a comment mentions this and it certainly used to happen .
I see this just as another nasty DM article

 

[tim2000s]

It's nasty, but if the parents (who aren't able to pull the "we're too dumb" card had been responsible, they would have been taking appropriate precautions to ensure they didn't have an unplanned pregnancy, especially with her control issues. There is a lot of info widely available to people if the bother to look for it.

Yes, the health service didn't do a great job, but as the people responsible for the child, they can't lay the blame elsewhere.

I'm not sure that reckless is the term I'd use, but if you can be a nurse with such a lack of understanding of your own condition, it doesn't bode well for those in your care.