A hospital has come under serious fire after it was found out to have secretly filmed parents being told their unborn babies had died.
The hospital
According to Metro UK, a British hospital has come under fire after it allegedly secretly filmed couples being told their unborn babies had died.
Midwives and charity chiefs have raised concerns this week over the use of small cameras in a dark scan room at the Rosie Maternity Hospital in Cambridge – which is set to feature in a Channel 4 TV documentary.
It was claimed that hospital staff had been advised not to tell parents they are being filmed at the hospital over the last few weeks.
Clinical Lead of Women’s Services Jeremy Brocklesby, however, defended the decision saying posters warning couples they were being filmed were ‘adequate’ notice. He said that the documentary was aimed to ‘untabooise’ a very sad part of pregnancy.
Dr Brocklesby said: ‘It’s for a documentary that is being made about stillbirth. Unless we get this out to the public conversation it will go no further, it will remain taboo.’
He also claimed the majority of pregnant women who had suffered a miscarriage would consent to being part of the film with the ‘right approach’.
He said: ‘Staff are not advised to say there’s cameras in rooms but if patients mention it the notice then they will happily talk about it.
‘I think there’s adequate notice. It’s flagged up – there are notices to suggest filming is taking place.’
The A4 posters warn CCTV is being filmed in small white cameras in the hospital’s Clinic 23 where people are given bad news of their unborn babies. The footage is deleted if they do not consent to it being viewed by TV production staff.
A doula, who supports Cambridgeshire mothers throughout pregnancy, said: ‘It was a few weeks ago and a client old me that she had seen a post up in the Rosie and was quite worried she had been filmed.
‘I emailed the head of maternity and didn’t get a response.
‘Most doulas have expressed extreme concerns to me and a number of their clients are quite worried and I do have midwife friends who agree with my staff on this.’
Parents have called for an apology from the hospital saying ‘there is an expectation of absolute privacy’ in the room. Human rights charity Birthrights has written to Addenbrooke’s Hospital raising concerns over the documentary was being made after mothers raised concerns with it. Chief executive Rebecca Schiller said there were ‘moral and legal questions to be asked’ of the hospital.
She added the charity was seeking more information to see ‘if they are infringing women’s rights when they are giving away very very private information’.
She also raised concerns that mothers with poor English may not have read the posters.