Husband Speaks About His Grief When His Wife Died After Postpartum Psychosis

A husband has spoken about his grief when his wife died after postpartum psychosis.

Anthony Gibson-Watt, the husband of Antiques Roadshow expert, Alice Gibson-Watt, 34, told the West London Coroner’s Court in the UK during an inquest into her death, that his wife suffered a panic attack at home on the evening of November 13th and started crawling on all fours, shouting her one-month-old daughter, Chiara Charlotte, was unsafe.

Emergency services were immediately called to help calm the new mum.

Alice’s mother, Miranda Phillimore, arrived at the home after Mr Gibson-Watt called her for help, getting there as the ambulance crew arrived at the scene. “She was alarmingly strapped down with five people holding her down at the time,” she confirmed, adding that she had been “as wild as a tigress” in the ambulance.

Paramedic Suzanne Elias, who was holding baby Chiara, said: “She was very distressed, she was shouting ‘my baby is dead’. She was struggling a lot, but they carried her out to the ambulance.”

Alice suffered a ruptured liver and internal bleeding and later died of her injuries.

The inquest will look at the events leading up to Alice’s death, including her suspected postpartum psychosis, which can cause hallucinations and paranoia, and whether or not excessive force was used to hold her down and cause fatal injuries.

“Neither Alice or I were at all aware of postpartum psychosis,” Mr Gibson-Watt told the inquest jury.

He explained that what happened was “deeply traumatic” and said it was “wholly unlike” his wife. “After some 48 hours of her arrival at Lakeside Mental health unit, I was somewhat relieved she was in the right place to start receiving treatment. How wrong that turned out to be,” he said.

Mr Gibson-Watt told the court how much his wife had loved her daughter and being a new mum. “She was enthralled by motherhood. One day I will tell our daughter more about her wonderful mother. I just hope now finally we get as close as possible to the truth of her passing,” he said.

The inquest continues.

Source: Essentialbaby.com.au

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