Kate Langbroek says new mothers are treated “cruelly” by hospitals while they give birth.
The Project host made the comments following an item on complaints of clinical incompetence and human rights abuses allegations at a regional NSW hospital.
Two woman appeared on the program to describe how they were left “traumatised” after they gave birth, with one woman nearly dying due to a complication.
“I thought, ‘I got to hold him and my husband is going to be a great dad without me. It’s going to be okay if I die,’” one of the women said on the program.
After the women told their stories, Ms Langbroek condemned how new mothers are treated in hospital, describing it as “heartbreaking and devastating”.
“We think we’re so much cleverer than nature,” Ms Langbroek, a mother of four said.
“There’s so much cruelty involved in the way women are treated when they have babies now, like kicked out of hospital before their milk even comes in and sent on their own,” she said.
“It’s just it’s not right, it’s not respectful to what we do and to the 7 billion people that have been made because of our work.”
In 2021, more than 30 women came forward with allegations of clinical incompetence and human rights abuses at Wagga Wagga Base Hospital.
An inquiry into the hospital was launched after advocacy group Maternity Consumer Network (MCN) filed a complaint with the Health Care Complaints Commission (HCCC).
The complaints included allegations of sheets not being changed quickly enough after birth, lack of assistance with feeding and other care, and denial of pain relief.