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Sally, a 30-year-old woman incarcerated at the Jyderup Women’s Prison in December 2023, was 25 weeks pregnant when she began her 10-month sentence for drug offenses. Her repeated pleas for medical attention—after noticing reduced fetal movement—were met with delays, misdiagnoses, and a fatal lack of urgency from prison healthcare staff, according to medical records and a documentary series by Danish state media DR.

On January 9, 2024, Sally reporting diminished movement for a second time. According to medical records she was examined not by a midwife or obstetrician, as national guidelines require, but by the prison’s general physician. A scan noted difficulties locating the heartbeat, attributed to the placenta’s position. She was sent back to her cell without hospital referral.

Three days later, when she was finally transferred to a hospital, it was too late. Alone, Sally was told that her daughter had died in utero. The hospital immediately contacted her parents and arranged for them to stay with her the following days as she delivered her stillborn child.

The hospital attempted to register Sally’s treatment as an “unintended incident”—a category used in the Danish Patient Safety Database to track and prevent medical errors. But their report was rejected. Unlike other healthcare institutions, prisons and similar state-run facilities are exempt from reporting requirements, leaving prisoners without the same protections as every other citizen.

"Prisoners are among the most vulnerable, explains Inge Christensen, director of the Danish Society for Patient Safety, an independent NGO. "We know they are the most exposed to malpractice in the healthcare system," she continues and calls the lack of reporting of unintended incidents in prisons "systematic discrimination". Her sentiments are echoed by Morten Freil, director in the patients' rights NGO Danish Patients, who explains how his organisation has warned of this lack of accountability for a long time. He calls for prisons to be included in reporting as soon as possible. The critics of the current lack of reporting are joined by the Danish Nurses Union who also think prisons should report unintended incidents.

Medical professionals directly involved in Sally’s case have condemned the disparity. Dr. Mette Schou Hammerum, chief physician at the obstetrics department where Sally was taken, has confirmed that the hospital suspects medical malpractice happened in her case which is why they tried to report an unintended incident. She went on to state that it was problematic and discriminatory how inmates are not protected by the same medical professional standards that applies in the general healthcare system.

Despite these appeals, the Danish regime is refusing to integrate prisons into the safety framework. Lea Bryld, regional director of the Prison and Probation Service, acknowledged “room for improvement” in Sally's case but defended internal reviews as sufficient although admitting that the prison system has no mechanism that systematically records medical malpractice. Sophie Løhde, head of the Liberal Party-controlled Ministry of Health has rejected calls for legislative changes, deflecting responsibility by saying healthcare professionals—not politicians—should decide if reforms are needed. Yet in the same breath, she noted that extending patient safety systems to prisons would require additional funding.

Today Sally is angry and heartbroken. She feels she did everything she could to save her daughter but that she was failed by the prison healthcare system. She hopes telling her story will help improve healthcare for inmates.

"I fight for justice for my baby so this will never happen again to anyone else in here"

• Source: DR (state media), April 6th 2025