Loss and Laparoscopies: Is the Maternity Ward a Safe Space for the Female Body?

Women undergoing various gynaecological procedures which pertain to pregnancy loss, birth complications, laparoscopic surgeries and hysterectomies are often placed in maternity wards next to patients who are mothers-to-be. Often, these procedures signify reproductive complications or the end of a woman’s reproductive potential. Dealing with the mental load of this while recovering from the procedure is often traumatic. Being placed in a maternity ward which is filled with visual cues of birth and happy mothers with healthy children, audio reminders of pregnancy, such as foetal heartrates or sounds from the labour ward, as well as proximity to the nursery compounds the trauma of women who now grapple with loss. Recent efforts in the United Kingdom have shown consideration for this spatial predicament and shifts towards providing a safer space for women undergoing procedures related to reproductive complications. However, based on multiple experiences of the researcher of the South African private healthcare service, all women with gynaecological related health matters are allocated to the maternity ward. The insensitivity of the healthcare system to women suffering loss may be attributed to prioritising ease of access for practitioners or maximising the spatial use of the hospital, however, consideration for the trauma involved with being in a maternity ward is overlooked. The study focuses on the female body in this space, the coping mechanisms used to deal with this mentally as well as the social controls over where the female body is placed while undergoing or recovering from these procedures. Based on autobiographical experiences, in-depth interviews with women who have experienced this predicament as well as guidelines pertaining to space within hospitals, the study argues that the female body and mind must be considered by those who control hospital placement and recommends that after care or counselling be mandatory post procedure.