黑料吃瓜网

Jessica Porten went to a doctor's appointment with her daughter, Kira, to get help with postpartum depression. The nurse called the police. (April Dembosky/KQED)

Four months after having her second baby, Jessica Porten started feeling really irritable. Little things would annoy her, like her glider chair.

鈥淚t had started to squeak,鈥� she said. 鈥淎nd so when I鈥檓 sitting there rocking the baby and it鈥檚 squeaking, I would just get so angry at that stupid chair.鈥�

She read online that this could be a symptom of postpartum depression 鈥� a condition that affects听听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 said she hopes the legislation will help women avoid what she went through.

She went to听, a women鈥檚 clinic in Sacramento, Calif., 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.

鈥淚 described maybe hitting myself or squeezing the baby too tight,鈥� she said. 鈥淏ut 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.鈥�

Porten said the nurse鈥檚 manner toward her changed at that point. 鈥淚 could see in that moment that she stopped listening to me,鈥� Porten said.

The nurse called the police. The police escorted Porten and her baby to a nearby 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,听though the hospital staff was sympathetic, Porten said.

鈥淚t鈥檚 like, everybody knows I鈥檓 not crazy,鈥� she said. 鈥淓verybody knows that this is normal 鈥� but they鈥檙e following protocol.鈥�

Finally, at midnight, 10 hours after she first got to the doctor鈥檚 office, a social worker sent her home. Porten wrote听听that the whole thing made her feel like a criminal.

鈥淚t was all legality,鈥� Porten said. 鈥淓verybody was protecting their own liability instead of thinking of me.鈥�

Administrators at Capital OB/GYN declined to comment. Gary Zavoral, a spokesman for听, which runs the emergency room where Porten was taken, said once a patient arrives in the ER for assessment, hospital staff must follow strict protocols.

鈥淭he process is to make sure everybody is safe: the individual鈥檚 safe, the family鈥檚 safe, the staff is safe,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he process does take some hours, so 10 hours is not unusual.鈥�

When patients reference violent thoughts, it forces doctors to think about things in a different way, said听, a psychiatrist at the University of California-San Francisco and Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital.

听allows doctors to involuntarily confine a person with a mental disorder if they are a danger to themselves or others. But Thomas said what constitutes imminent danger can be vague.

鈥淵ou can imagine a provider, a social worker, any number of people might interpret that phrase in different ways, about what is necessary to report and what isn鈥檛,鈥� she said.

The laws and medical protocols don鈥檛 always line up, Thomas said. There have been times she felt asked to rely on legal reasoning over her clinical judgment.

鈥淭he fragmented aspects of our system of care make it difficult to get women the help that they really want,鈥� Thomas said.

That鈥檚 one reason lawmakers in Sacramento are introducing a package of bills to specifically address maternal mental health. Assemblyman听(R-San Diego) backs two of them. One would require doctors to screen new moms for depression 鈥� under current law in California, it鈥檚 voluntary.

鈥淭he numbers here are so significant that I think it鈥檚 something that doctors really should understand and should be prepared to both diagnose and treat,鈥� he said. Screening, he added, also 鈥渆ducates a woman in that situation that this is an issue that may impact her.鈥�

惭补颈别苍蝉肠丑别颈苍鈥檚听听would direct the state to tap into a new federal pot of money set aside for postpartum programs and awareness campaigns. It was established under the 21st^听Century Cures Act, which was passed in the final months of the Obama administration.

鈥淕etting federal money is a great thing,鈥� Maienschein said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 federal money that鈥檚 available that I鈥檇 like to see California have, versus another state.鈥�

The legislation has given Jessica Porten a new purpose. People have told her she should sue Capital OB/GYN for calling the police. But she rejected that idea.

鈥淚 walk into that waiting room and I see tons of Medi-Cal recipients 鈥� so they鈥檙e all low-income,鈥� she said. 鈥淚f I sue, it鈥檚 only going to cause monetary damages to a facility that is clearly short on resources.鈥�

Instead, Porten said she鈥檒l advocate to get the new bills passed in California. She thinks that鈥檚 the way to help the clinic鈥檚 physicians and nurses do a better job of helping new moms get the care they need.

鈥淚鈥檓 not going to take that away,鈥� she said. 鈥淚鈥檓 going to build it up.鈥�

This story is part a reporting partnership that includes KQED, NPR and听.

黑料吃瓜网 News鈥� coverage of women鈥檚 health care issues is supported in part by .