Pregnant mum told she can't see her private obstetrician because she is unvaccinated

A private obstetrician will not see a pregnant patient at his clinic because she is unvaccinated. Photo / 123RF

A pregnant mother claims she has been told by a private obstetrician she will not longer be cared for by the clinic because she is not vaccinated.

According to the woman's husband, two others that they knew of were also facing a similar issue at different clinics in Greenlane, Mt Eden and on the North Shore.

He did not want to name the clinics or obstetricians as they still had to depend on them come delivery day.

"I have grave concerns regarding the new vaccine regulations as my wife is in pregnancy," said the man, who did not want to be identified.

They had paid the first of four instalments for $6000 to engage the services of a private obstetrician and had already visited the clinic twice.

"One of the services of obstetricians is that you can have monthly consultation and check alongside by bedside scans, this is attractive to us as my wife is in advanced maternal age," he said.

"(But) my wife is not vaccinated yet because at her early stage of pregnancy, she had serious reactions, vomited after every meal, cannot sleep well every night and we figured this may not be the best time to get jabbed."

They then received calls and emails from the clinic saying the wife would no longer be allowed to visit the clinic because she was unvaccinated and would be supported with just telephone consultations.

"Joining a specialist is to comfort ourselves when it comes to pregnancy in this pandemic, how ironic we are in a position where we are feeling greatly depressed and extremely anxious," the man said.

"It feels like the mandate has come to the area of pregnant women, one of the most vulnerable people in our society. Not only no jab no job to some of the industries, but also no jab no normal maternity checking."

Last month, the Herald reported that several private hospitals too had decided that they would only treat vaccinated patients.

Mercy Hospital in Dunedin and Grace Hospital in Tauranga have updated policies stating that patients and visitors must be double vaccinated.

New Zealand's largest private independent healthcare network, Southern Cross, also required all visitors and carers who enter its hospitals to show evidence of at least one vaccination. The vaccination status does not apply to patients.

When approached for comments on the obstetricians, the Ministry of Health referred the Herald to earlier comments it made stating private providers must have good justification to refuse services.

A ministry spokeswoman said private providers have responsibilities to deliver health services as set out in a ministry Covid-19 position statement on dealing with unvaccinated patients in community and secondary care settings.

The statement says "denying access to healthcare on the basis of vaccination status is unacceptable" and "access to health care is a fundamental right".

It said in most cases, with vaccinated staff and other precautions, the risks are unlikely to be high enough to provide sufficient justification to not follow the code.

Under the new Covid Protection Framework which took effect last Friday, unvaccinated people are restricted from accessing venues such as restaurants and bars but not to essential services such as healthcare.

Meredith Connell partner Anna Adams, who specialises in health law, had also previously told the Herald it was not clear whether the law now going through Parliament would allow private hospitals not to treat unvaccinated people.

If the Government drew a line around essential services such as health services then private hospitals may not have the option, she said.

The current definition of health services under the Health and Disability Service Safety Act was very broad and would include hospitals, GPs and physiotherapists in the public and private sector.

Other more conventional approaches hospitals could take - and some already were - would be requiring the patient to return a negative Covid test before having an operation, Adams said.