http://i.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/93507253/police-investigate-suspicious-death-of-baby-boy-born-at-a-boarding-house–who-died-just-days-later
This article seems to imply this baby’s death was related to the conditions of the boarding house but given it is under the crime section of the news and it says the baby died of suspicious circumstances I think the child being in a boarding house is not not the problem but having bad parents. Doesn’t matter if you live in a mansion, if you have parents who are abusive, or abusing drugs or alcohol, then you have kids who are at risk and vulnerable. The reason it’s often the poor kids who get into these situations is if you spend all your money on drugs and alcohol you are more likely to be poor. Over the years I’ve heard many a story of rich people who lost all their money due to their addictions.
Firstly, when you live in a boarding house you are not in a financially stable position and you should not be having a baby. Secondly, this boarding house is in Favona, South Auckland so medical care is easily accessible. I used to know a lady who was a midwife at Middlemore Hospital, a hospital in South Auckland. She said so many woman didn’t seek out medical care and just showed up at hospital to give birth and this made life difficult as they didn’t know the history so couldn’t predict risk factors. Midwife care is free in NZ so there is no excuse not to take up this offer and it is likely that this person didn’t use midwife care because why would you choose to have a home birth in a boarding house where there are fleas when you could choose a hospital where they would treat her for free. Surely a midwife would advise against birthing in a boarding house. The problem with not seeing a midwife is you don’t get scans, so you don’t know when the baby so due and there are risk factors with a baby that is born prem and potential health issues when the baby doesn’t arrive 10 days after the due date – which is when they would normally induce if baby hadn’t arrived. The scan also checks if the child has any anatomy issues as they may need treatment after birth and checks to see if there are twins. Blood tests throughout the pregnancy check for diabetes, pregnancy diabetes is common and there are risk factors for baby and mum so this needs to be monitored. Preeclampsia is also a serious medical condition that can harm mum and baby so a midwife watches for these things. Lots of stuff can go wrong during pregnancy but the great thing is most of these risk factors can be managed under midwife care to result in a good outcome for mum and baby. Not getting midwife care has nothing to do with poverty, not only is it fully funded by government but they also give extra help such as referrals to HNZ to help get a house in circumstances like this when they are in a boarding house and they also put you on to Plunket after the birth who also ensure baby has the best start to life. For the first 6 weeks the midwife visits you at home. Any issues with the child would have been picked up if that had happened. If they’d don’t get proper medical care then it is their fault. Don’t link NZ with third world countries where they don’t have access to help. We have choices in NZ. We are lucky. Not only do we have prenatal care for free, we have vaccinations for free, Plunket help for free and free medical care for children under 13 – definitely not third world. We get so much help, it’s insulting to countries which woman don’t get the help they need when pregnant and afterz. To say we have third world, we have the best access possible, if people choose not to access it then it is their decision. A boarding house is not third world conditions either, third world is a tent, mud shack not your own room in a building.
The government isn’t to blame for this baby’s death. No matter what killed the child had it been born in hospital and under midwife care there would have been a much higher chance of survival so it is on the parents, not the government.
Revisionist Media 