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Parents thought their new-born was dead when mum gave birth on Kwinana Freeway after hospital handpass

A desperate mother thought her baby was dead when she was forced to give birth on the side of the freeway after being “kicked out” of a Perth public hospital despite experiencing unbearable contractions while waiting four hours for a bed. Squatting on the back seat of a car just off the emergency lane of the Kwinana Freeway, Lena could feel her baby coming and then heard her partner Abdul cry: “The baby’s out, the baby’s out!” But then there was a deathly silence. The new-born had not made a sound. A shocked Lena looked across and braced herself for bad news as she saw Abdul on the phone to triple-0 screaming out: “Hey, hey, hey, it’s not breathing. I need help. I need help. The cord is wrapped around (it‘s neck).” Acting on instinct, the couple managed to untie the umbilical cord, but as Lena grasped her fragile baby girl close to her chest in the cramped back seat of a car while peak-hour traffic rushed past, she felt the weight of grief wash over her. “We actually thought she was dead in my arms.” The couple’s frenetic day began in the early hours of Thursday, November 13 last year. They’d left their High Wycombe home after Lena’s contractions had intensified, arriving at the St John of God Midland Public Hospital sometime between 3.30am and 4am. When they explained their situation to the staff on the maternity ward, they were told nobody was available to look after them. They decided it was safer to stay at the hospital and waited patiently to be admitted. After about four hours, around 7.50am, Abdul approached maternity ward staff to ask for an update on whether arranging a bed for Lena was possible. The response shocked them, with Abdul saying it was along the lines of: “Oh, did you not hear, we are on bypass.” According to WA Health’s website, the term “bypass” is described as a standard operational practice in which “birthing mothers may be diverted or transferred to another hospital for their continuing care” during situations of “unusually high demand”. “The decision to divert or transfer birthing mothers is always made in the interest of patient safety,” the website states. After staff explained to the couple that no beds were available, it was eventually arranged for a room to be prepared at another public hospital. And for a reason St John of God and the WA Health Department have refused to make public, staff decided to send them to Rockingham Hospital — located more than 60 kilometres away and a drive of about an hour. Both Lena and Abdul claim the hospital staff declined their request for an ambulance transfer to Rockingham, and they said they were not provided with an explanation. The hospital has not denied this claim. By this point, Lena said her contractions were increasingly frequent and unbearable. Feeling as though they had no other choice — and without being examined a second time before exiting the hospital — staff allowed Lena to crawl her way into the back seat of the family’s Toyota Kluger. Unable to sit down or wear a seatbelt due to the pain, Lena positioned herself on “all fours” across the car’s backseat footwells as her partner began the drive to Rockingham in peak-hour traffic. But after 20 minutes their journey ended abruptly in the south-bound emergency lane of the Kwinana Freeway in Atwell, with Lena realising the baby was coming. The details of the traumatic birth of the couple’s second child was captured on a harrowing triple-0 call heard by The West Australian. “I’m on the freeway, on the way to the hospital and my wife is giving birth in the car,” Abdul told the emergency call-taker as he kept a watchful eye over Lena. Minutes later, a moment of silence is followed by screams. “The baby’s out, the baby’s out,” Abdul yells, after catching the new-born baby girl. “Hey, hey, hey, it’s not breathing. I need help. I need help. The cord is wrapped around (it‘s neck).” What stays with the parents more than anything is a split-second of terror after Abdul grasped their tiny daughter, who appeared lifeless. “I made eye contact with (Abdul) . . . and then I realised the baby was not making any noise, and she looked weird, like her face was covered with her sack, and it was as if she was choking,” Lena said. “Abdul literally froze. He was screaming, but there was no one to help us. In his mind, we were helpless. “I had to grab the baby, and I moved the sack off her face. And then I was trying to pull her closer to me, but I realised she was getting pulled . . . I looked at her and the cord was wrapped around her neck twice. I don’t know how I did it.” After managing to remove the cord and pulling her newborn close to her chest, the precious cries of their daughter began. Lena claims, as the days went on, the intensity of the birth was constantly playing on her mind, forcing her to impulsively check on the well-being of her child. “We actually thought she was dead in my arms,” Lena said, as she broke down in tears. “He (Abdul) thought she was dead at first. I thought we had a dead baby . . . I kept tapping her on her back, and eventually she did cry. “We couldn’t even explain to the (triple-0 call-taker) what was happening, because we were panicking. “(Before giving birth) I was holding in my screams the whole time (while driving to Rockingham), because I didn’t want (Abdul) to get scared while we were on the highway . . . I was trying to hold it in until I couldn’t no more.” Within about 10 minutes, three St John WA ambulance crews arrived at the scene before Lena and her baby girl, Sofia, were rushed back to St John of God Midland Hospital — the closest public hospital to where the birth occurred. Abdul said a paramedic demanded the pair be taken back to Midland after hospital staff, for a second time, were hesitant to admit Lena. “I remember his exact words to the hospital — he said ‘the lady that you kicked out gave birth on the side of the freeway’,” Abdul said. Lena and Abdul, who asked for their surnames not to be published, shared their distressing experience in the hope that the hospital and the State Government can explain what went so wrong on what was supposed to be one of the happiest days of their lives. Lena said her family and the public deserved answers. “I don’t know if anything will be done about it, after this whole thing,” she said. “One hundred per cent no one deserves to go through this. No one. No one deserves to think that their child just died in their arms. “I almost don’t sleep, because every grunt, every noise, every second, I’m checking if that baby is alive. I literally keep having dreams about her dying in my arms. “I had a very different experience in my mind with this birth, and it ended up nothing like it. I’m still thankful that at the end of the day that my daughter is healthy and I’m healthy, but this, this shouldn’t have happened. “It’s been a lot, and I guess it’s going to take time for me to process it.” Abdul said it was frustrating he had to approach staff before being told the hospital was on bypass. “If I hadn’t, she would probably have given birth in the hallway — which probably would have been better than in the car,” he said. “There was no communication from their side on checking on her telling us they were on bypass. St John of God Midland said an internal investigation into the duty of care provided to the mother had been completed. Lena and Abdul only found that the review had been done when The West Australian read them the hospital’s initial four-line response to more than a dozen questions this week. In an email seen by The West, a hospital staffer had previously said they would tell the couple of any updates. The last known correspondence from the hospital to the family, prior to when The West started asking questions, was on December 23. In a revised statement sent by the hospital on late Friday, a St John of God Hospital spokesperson apologised to the family. “We acknowledge that this was a difficult time for the patient and her family and apologise for any distress caused at such a significant time for them,” they said. “Our Midland hospital has systems in place to help us to respond to the inherent unpredictability of maternity care. “Unfortunately, due to high levels of activity in our maternity unit, we were not able to deliver the baby at our hospital so arranged a transfer. We acknowledge the impact this transfer caused on mum and family.” “The safety and wellbeing of our patients is always our top priority. A thorough review of the patient’s presentation and subsequent transfer has been submitted to the Department of Health for review in accordance with policy and we will invite the patient to meet and discuss the findings of our review once this process has been finalised. “ The hospital spokesperson said they were committed to the “continual improvement in our patient care and safety processes”. “Any learnings and recommendations from the review will be implemented through our clinical governance processes,” they said. “We look forward to speaking with the family about the review findings and will continue to offer our support.” TIMELINE NOVEMBER 13, 2025 Just before 4am: Lena and Abdul arrive at St John of God Midland Hospital’s Maternal Fetal Assessment Unit after Lena experiences contractions. 4.10am: Initial assessment by staff occurs before being moved to waiting room and given oral pain relief. 7.50am: Abdul asks staff for update before being told hospital is on bypass. Staff arrange for a bed at Rockingham Hospital 7.50am: The couple are denied ambulance transport and begin travelling towards Rockingham in family car. 8.36am: Abdul calls triple-0 after Lena begins delivering her baby on the Kwinana Freeway south-bound in Atwell. 8.49am: St John WA paramedics arrive at the scene under priority 1 conditions in peak-hour traffic before forcing closure of one freeway lane. 9.24am: Paramedics depart the scene with mother and baby. 10.05am: They arrive back at St John of God Midland Hospital. 10.19am: Transfer of care completed to Midland staff. FEBRUARY 6, 2026 3:44pm: St John of God Midland apologise for what the family went through after numerous questions from The West.

The West Australian exclusiveParents thought their new-born was dead when mum gave birth on Kwinana Freeway after hospital handpass

exclusive
Parents thought their new-born was dead when mum gave birth on Kwinana Freeway after hospital handpass