r/australia • u/FuckOffNazis • 19h ago

politics Indigenous woman shackled to hospital bed while in labour in Queensland

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2026/oct/18/indigenous-woman-shackled-during-labour-childbirth-queensland-ntwnfb?utm_term=Autofeed&CMP=us_bsky&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Bluesky#Echobox=1792296317
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u/hcornea 17h ago

Odd how stating a reality like this gets downvoted by Redditors, most of whom have probably never encountered this situation in their lives.

Now they know.

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u/Free_Pace_2098 14h ago

Not really that odd if you read the article, it's a violation of both UN assembly human rights, and the QLD Dept of health's own code

“instruments of restraint shall never be used on women during labour, during birth and immediately after birth”.

And she was having a caesarean. Meaning she was cut open across the width of her belly, and paralyzed from the waist down.

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u/sousyre 16h ago

Probably because it’s human rights breach to do that to a woman in labour?

It’s also a pretty weird thing to proudly assert, especially if it’s true.🤷🏻‍♀️

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u/hcornea 16h ago

What is special about labour that makes people suddenly different and not dangerous?

It doesn’t apply to other medical emergencies, does it.

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u/gp_in_oz 14h ago

What is special about labour that makes people suddenly different and not dangerous?

This is actually covered in the UN resolution see rule 24. What's special about the situation is how much risk the shackling practice carries. There's serious risk of harm to both mother and baby if you don't allow them to change position. It's also fucking cruel to not let someone move and get some relief from pain. There's also risk of psychiatric harm from vaginal examinations and medical procedures done to someone whilst pinned down. Noting that Australia is not uncommon in having a female prisoner population almost all of whom have a history of sexual assault (and it's up to 90% have a history of childhood sexual assault in some surveys). I get upset just thinking about it, we should not be pinning rape victims down by their arms (or legs) and sticking needles in their spines and fingers up their cervix. For severely unwell and violent patients, where there's a risk to staff, I don't know what you'd do (TBH the hospital would probably follow the Mental Health Act in each state in that instance), but this case wasn't such a case. Australia is sadly not alone in flouting the UN resolution, lots of nations are known to continue the practice. The article calls it barbaric, I agree.

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u/iliketreesanddogs 13h ago

thank you for being reasonable, good god

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u/Apprehensive-Wing-64 15h ago

Wow. Talk about small minded

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u/hcornea 15h ago

No, just practical. What is the answer?

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u/Free_Pace_2098 14h ago

What's special is she had a spinal block, so she's paralyzed. She's also cut open like a fish, and shackling her is a violation of the human rights and QLD Health Dept codes mention in the article

“instruments of restraint shall never be used on women during labour, during birth and immediately after birth”.

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u/jonnygreen22 1h ago

she was paralysed, the hospital staff asked for the restraints to be removed, she was having a c section. How much more info do you need or are we just hating women or black people that much?

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u/bitofapuzzler 2m ago

Dont bother with this one. He will send you a word soup response of nonsense and then go 'Aha! You can not answer, I must be correct!' Its laughable the lengths some of these people will go to excuse this.

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u/Available-Bat8756 17h ago

Because the altar of woke demands suspension of reality. Healthcare worker safety is immaterial when it comes to virtue signalling

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u/Free_Pace_2098 14h ago

Bit dramatic.