BBC News: 'NO compassion' Naga Munchetty unleashes anger in shocking stillborn segment
BBC NEWS presenter Naga Munchetty failed to hide her upset over the government and as a result the NHS’ approach to premature babies born before 24 weeks, saying compassion has been “missed” during a heartbreaking interview on BBC Breakfast.
BBC’s Naga Munchetty: There is no ‘compassion’ for stillbirths
Naga Munchetty and Charlie Stayt co-presented BBC Breakfast today, and the latest programme featured a powerful discussion over the treatment and approach to babies born before 24 weeks in the UK.
Dr Lucy Smith and mother Steph Wild, who lost her baby Bee at 23 weeks old, appeared on the show to share their experiences.
The doctor, who recently left a study into the decision not to give babies a birth or death certificate that are born before 24 weeks, began by explaining some of their findings.
“We’re saying a lot of countries now report stillbirths as 22 weeks or earlier,” she said. “We can reliably start to get an idea for how many stillbirths are occurring at that stage of pregnancy, and we can start to acknowledge the losses of parents like Steph.”
Cutting in to the doctor’s comments, 43-year-old Naga suddenly declared: “There’s an edge of compassion that’s being missed here.
“In the terms of 23 weeks and four days, which was the age of Bee, and yet it’s classed as a miscarriage and it’s not recorded.
“Now regardless of whether there is valuable information or not Steph lost a baby,” she said bluntly.
The emotionally charged moment continued as Naga went on: “And there are parents and mothers and fathers who have been devastated by this news.
“Surely… why is there a legal system in place to not even acknowledge a birth or a death certificate, it’s like the system doesn’t even acknowledge a baby’s being born.”
There’s an edge of compassion that’s being missed
“Absolutely, in the UK that’s extremely difficult,” Lucy agreed. “And parents, we’ve interviewed parents all over the UK who’ve lost a baby before 24 weeks and their experiences of not receiving a birth and death certificate - there’s no validation of that baby’s life."
“How much Steph does that compound - not having any official recognition - compound the loss?” Charlie asked the grieving mother.
“I think it’s awful,” Steph admitted. “I walked out of hospital with nothing, with a box, a memory box, with bits in, I have nothing.”
Unable to hide her anger over the issue, Steph said: “Absolutely nothing, to say that I’ve just come out without a baby.”
“When you talk with midwives and parents now, because it happens, how do you change the language around that?” Naga then asked the guest.
“Your refer to the baby as their baby’s name, not key words like foetus, miscarriage,” Steph insisted. “It’s a baby, it’s a wanted baby, that has existed, has lived and has died but you still use their name.
“And you are making sure they still have an acknowledgement. How hard is it?
“Make a certificate, it’s not official, but if you feel that someone else has acknowledged that your baby existed that’s one more person that’s met your baby.
“And think how few people have ever met your baby and if they acknowledge them that makes them a person.”
BBC Breakfast airs weekdays at 6am on BBC One.