Indian woman gives birth at home after hospital turns her away

An Indian-origin woman in the UK was turned away from a hospital's maternity unit even as she was in labour and gave birth 40 minutes later in her mother's living room.
Zeenat Patel has demanded an investigation into why she was turned away by the maternity ward of a UK hospital just minutes before the birth of her baby, Liyana.
Patel gave birth after she was refused a second labour check by a triage nurse over the phone.
When the 26-year-old and her partner, Yaseen Lockhat, first went to the maternity unit at Royal Bolton Hospital in Lancashire county about 3:30 pm local time on July 3, they were told she was not in "active" labour and advised the couple to go home until the contractions became more frequent.

Yet an hour after the couple left, Patel found herself in constant pain and called the maternity triage nurse again - only to be told to wait at home.
Concerned their baby was just minutes away from being born, the couple set off for the hospital again by car.

"I was told that because I was talking between contractions I couldn't be that close, but I was in pain all the time," Patel told the local 'Bolton News' daily.
"They spoke to me like I was a child, like I didn't know my own body. I'd given birth before and I knew what was happening, but they would not listen. We were left with no alternative but to go home," she said.

When Lockhat dropped her off at her mother's house, the pain worsened and she started to give birth.
"I was walking up and down the hall. I shut myself in the toilet and when I sat down I could feel the head. All I could do was push. I kept thinking if they had checked me, I wouldn't be giving birth in this situation," Patel recalled.
"I stayed in the toilet because I didn't want my three-year-old daughter, Jasmine, to see what was happening. Giving birth is meant to be a special experience, but this was just traumatic," she said.

Paramedics arrived 25 minutes after baby Liyana Zoya Lockhat was born, who weighs 6lb 2oz and is now doing well.
The Royal Bolton Hospital in Manchester has now launched an investigation.
Sue Anderton, head of midwifery at the hospital, said: "A senior matron met with Zeenat and her family as soon as we heard of these concerns and I followed this up and went to meet them myself. Clearly they are very upset and we will look into what happened thoroughly and get back to them.