Maternal Mental Health Bills Aim To Make It Easier For Depressed Moms To Get Help : Shots
Jessica Porten
Four months after having her second baby   Jessica Porten  started feeling really irritable. Little things would annoy  her   like  her  glider chair.
"It had started to squeak "  she  says. "And so when I'm sitting there rocking the baby and it's squeaking  I would just get so angry at that stupid chair."
 She  read online that irritability could be a symptom of postpartum depression â a condition that affects up to 1 in 7 women during or after pregnancy  according to the American Psychological Association. In California  where  Porten  lives  those rates are even higher  spurring state lawmakers to introduce a package of bills to improve mental health screening and treatment for new moms.
Porten hopes they help women avoid what  she  went through.
 She  went to Capital OB/GYN  a women's clinic in Sacramento that accepts  her  Medicaid coverage as payment  to talk about medication options and therapy. Porten admitted to the nurse that  she  was having some violent thoughts.
"I described maybe hitting myself or squeezing the baby too tight "  she  says. "But I was very adamant through the entire appointment that I was not going to hurt myself and I was not going to hurt my children."
But   Porten  says  the nurse's manner toward  her  changed. "I could see in that moment that  she  stopped listening to me "  Porten  says.
The nurse called the police. The police escorted  Porten  and  her  baby to the emergency room. Hospital staff made  her  change into a gown and took  her  purse  but they let  her  keep  her  diaper bag for the baby. They put them both in a room  under constant watch  though the hospital staff was sympathetic   Porten  says.
"It's like  everybody knows I'm not crazy "  she  says. "Everybody knows that this is normal â but they're following protocol."
Finally  at midnight  10 hours after  she  first got to the doctor's office  a social worker sent  her  home. Porten wrote on Facebook that the whole thing made  her  feel like a criminal.
"It was all legality  " Porten  says. "Everybody was protecting their own liability instead of thinking of me."
Administrators at Capital OB/GYN declined to comment. Gary Zavoral  a spokesman for Sutter Health  which runs the emergency room where  Porten  was taken  says that once a patient arrives in the ER for assessment  hospital staff must follow strict protocols.
The legislation has given  Jessica Porten  a new purpose. People have told  her  that  she  should sue Capital OB/GYN for calling the police. But  she  says no.
"I walk into that waiting room and I see tons of Medi-Cal recipients â so they're all low-income "  she  says. "If I sue  it's only going to cause monetary damages to a facility that is clearly short on resources."
Four months after having her second baby    [TGT] started feeling really irritable. Little things would annoy   [TGT]    like   [TGT]   glider chair.
"It had started to squeak "   [TGT]   says. "And so when I'm sitting there rocking the baby and it's squeaking  I would just get so angry at that stupid chair."
  [TGT]   read online that irritability could be a symptom of postpartum depression â a condition that affects up to 1 in 7 women during or after pregnancy  according to the American Psychological Association. In California  where  Porten  lives  those rates are even higher  spurring state lawmakers to introduce a package of bills to improve mental health screening and treatment for new moms.
Porten hopes they help women avoid what  she  went through.
 She  went to Capital OB/GYN  a women's clinic in Sacramento that accepts  her  Medicaid coverage as payment  to talk about medication options and therapy. Porten admitted to the nurse that  she  was having some violent thoughts.
"I described maybe hitting myself or squeezing the baby too tight "  she  says. "But I was very adamant through the entire appointment that I was not going to hurt myself and I was not going to hurt my children."
But   Porten  says  the nurse's manner toward  her  changed. "I could see in that moment that  she  stopped listening to me "  Porten  says.
The nurse called the police. The police escorted  Porten  and  her  baby to the emergency room. Hospital staff made  her  change into a gown and took  her  purse  but they let  her  keep  her  diaper bag for the baby. They put them both in a room  under constant watch  though the hospital staff was sympathetic   Porten  says.
"It's like  everybody knows I'm not crazy "  she  says. "Everybody knows that this is normal â but they're following protocol."
Finally  at midnight  10 hours after  she  first got to the doctor's office  a social worker sent  her  home. Porten wrote on Facebook that the whole thing made  her  feel like a criminal.
"It was all legality  " Porten  says. "Everybody was protecting their own liability instead of thinking of me."
Administrators at Capital OB/GYN declined to comment. Gary Zavoral  a spokesman for Sutter Health  which runs the emergency room where  Porten  was taken  says that once a patient arrives in the ER for assessment  hospital staff must follow strict protocols.
The legislation has given   [TGT] a new purpose. People have told   [TGT]   that   [TGT]   should sue Capital OB/GYN for calling the police. But   [TGT]   says no.
"I walk into that waiting room and I see tons of Medi-Cal recipients â so they're all low-income "  she  says. "If I sue  it's only going to cause monetary damages to a facility that is clearly short on resources."