Mom who went to Manitoba ER for postpartum depression help told she had 'nothing to be depressed about'
CBC
A Manitoba mother with postpartum depression says she was dismissed by an emergency room physician last month when she sought help after having suicidal thoughts.
Delsie Martin, who has a six-month-old son and a two-year-old daughter, said she had been having persistent thoughts of dying when she asked her husband to take her to the Neepawa Health Centre on a Sunday afternoon in August.
But she says a doctor at the hospital in the southwestern town sent her away without any treatment or referrals to other services.
"He gestured to my husband and he said, 'Look at this wonderful man sitting here and your two children at home. You have no reason to be depressed,'" said Martin.
The 34-year-old says she told the doctor she was taking medication for postpartum depression, which she suffered from after her first child as well.
A health-care team in her home community, in Manitoba's Interlake, was treating her, but she says she reached a breaking point while visiting family in Neepawa.
"That day my thoughts became so overwhelming and they were racing so fast … [that] suddenly thoughts of dying that I was able to logically talk myself out of [before] were becoming a lot more logical," said Martin.
The first thing the doctor asked her about was what kind of birth control she was using, she said.
"He said that I shouldn't have any more children."
Martin also told him about other sources of stress in her life — child care, schooling and finances.
"He said, 'You think you know what financial stress is? I have financial stress,'" Martin said.
"Then he referred us to some sort of financial planner that's out of the States and said that if I get financial planning [and] if I don't have babies, I'll be fine," Martin said.
After a 20-minute visit, the doctor told her there was nothing he could do for her, she said.
"[He said], 'Nobody can help you, you can only help yourself,' and he's correct. But the postpartum depression brain only heard 'nobody can help you.'"
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