Fathers at the end of their rope: a brief report on fathers abandoned in the perinatal situation

Fathers (N=18) with one or more children on an NICU were interviewed about their experiences on the NICU However, fathers insisted on talking about the situation around the birth of their child. Seventeen of 18 births were by Caesarian with only four fathers present. Hospital staff prevented 10 fathers from attending, primarily because the mother was to receive general anaesthesia. Eight of 13 fathers asked would definitely have wanted to be present anyway. In spite of severe limitations, the results show it is probably time again to re-think and systematically research how fathers are treated when the birth of their child becomes complicated.