Or... Of
Care Providers and Home Birth
Caveat:
This was a hard blog post to write. Reading stories about the death of a baby
is hard enough, but to read some of these stories from the mother's perspective
is just heart-wrenching. As I have put this together, it seems very cut
and dry... but I assure you it was not easy for me to do this as these are not
easy stories about which to read. I cannot imagine actually living
through them and my heart goes out to each of these mothers, fathers, siblings,
grandparents, etc and most especially, these sweet babies. I tried to use the
names of the babies where I could but in some cases, the names were not given.
****
Hospitals
of course will see their fair share of infants that die b/c they obviously have
much higher risk clientele. They have women who have zero prenatal care and
walk in off the street. They have babies born at 23 weeks gestation. They have
babies born to drug addicts. They have babies born with congenital birth
defects. They will see and deal with every sort of high risk pregnant woman and
the baby she carries.
When I
was debating between home and hospital, I found one key question that really
got to me:
Are there healthy, full-term babies routinely dying in hospitals that would
have lived had they been born at home?
Are there?
Here are
some stories of healthy, full term babies that have died or were injured at
home births.... babies that (most likely) would have lived had they been
born in hospitals. And these are their care givers.
(You can
click on the link for full the story or investigation. I am providing what I
found to be the most shocking details in bullet-form lists under the names.)
Karen Carr, Certified Professional Midwife (CPM), Virginia
- baby was in breech
position, which the midwife knew prior to labor; mother was 43 years old and
was a first time mother
- baby's head
entrapped during delivery for more than 20 minutes
- an additional 13
minutes passed while midwife attempted resuscitation before she
called for emergency medical help
- baby died two days
later
- money was raised by
Karen Carr's supporters to pay for her legal fees... none raised for the family
whose baby died
- Ina May Gaskin
planned to testify on behalf of Karen Carr (Karen Carr accepted a plea
agreement to avoid trial)
Faith Beltz, Certified Professional Midwife (CPM),
Texas
- midwife either
ignored or did not recognize the signs of placental abruption (placenta
detaches from the uterine wall)
- mother had a fever
during labor, baby's heart tones were above 180, mother was passing blood clots
and there was meconium in the amniotic fluid
- quote from the
mother: "in the birth records, Faith
repeatedly states that I was refusing to transfer. She NEVER said “transfer” to
me. She never said “emergency”, or “abruption”. This is backed up by the other
3 people at my birth."
- quote from the
mother "Please pay close attention to
these words…the hospital was 3 MINUTES from my house. But that means NOTHING
when bad things are happening and you are in hard labor. It took at least 30
minutes to get to the car. 30 MINUTES. Don’t fool yourself into thinking you
are safer than you are."
- Baby Aquila was born still at home from an infection and complete
placental abruption
Complaint #2 of 5 of
the investigation:
- administered Pitocin
at a home birth, used vaginal chlorhexadrine (Hibiclens) to treat GBS
infection, fundal pressure applied to help baby descend in second stage,
misdiagnosed fetal station resulting in unnecessary episiotomy
- the mother called
ambulance after 3 hours of pushing
- hospital transfer,
baby born limp and blue, was OP with a nuchal cord, NICU stay for almost one
month before transfer to a pediatric rehabilitation center, suffers from HIE
and seizure disorder
-
Johns HopkinsHospital ordered to pay out $55 million to the parents
because the parents believe it was the
hospital's fault the
baby was not born in time to prevent the brain damage. The jury was not aware
that it was an attempted home birth. The hospital is appealing the award.
Complaint #4 of 5 of
the investigation:
- attempted HBAC (Home
Birth After Cesarean)
- at 40.5 weeks,
ultrasound indicated estimated weight of 9 lbs, 3 oz
- fetal heart tones
indicated distress, 911 called, midwife delayed hospital transport and asked
the EMS to "stand by" for over 20 minutes while the mother continued to push;
EMS finally insisted on the transport
- cesarean performed
immediately upon hospital arrival, baby was OP with tight nuchal cord and the
uterus had ruptured
- baby was born still
- her license has been
suspended by the Maryland Board of Nursing
- money was raised to
help pay for the midwife's legal fees
- June 2008: baby girl
born without oxygen leading to permanent brain damage,
$5millionsettlement awarded to the couple (not sure if they will
get a dime though as the midwives are planning to file for bankruptcy)
- October 2010:
umbilical cord not clamped before it was cut, significant blood loss to baby;
on admittance to hospital, baby had respiratory failure and severe HIE. Baby
died 14 days later.
- June 2011: diabetic
mother; baby in distress during labor; midwife delayed paramedics from entering
the patient's room for at least 4 minutes; baby died.
- August 2011: 48
hours of active labor, 10 hours of pushing; baby born limp and unresponsive
with meconium staining around the mouth; midwife didn't call for
paramedics for 11 minutes after birth. Baby died. Autopsy performed and stated "the cause of death was anoxic brain injury secondary
to a prolonged vaginal birth complicated by meconium aspiration."
- a RALLY was
staged in support of the midwives. What a slap in the face to the loss moms and
dads who lost their babies at the hands of these midwives....
- the parents were
reassured that it was safe to have a vaginal breech delivery at their birth center
- quote from the
mother, regarding breech vaginal delivery: "They made it seem like it
was even safer than having a C-section at that point. There was no discussion,
no use of the phrase ‘high risk.’ No discussion of how your baby may not
survive or your baby may become entrapped."
- baby boy's head
became entrapped in her pelvis after his body was born
- baby Magnus was born
without a heartbeat, transferred to the hospital and died after 13 days in the
NICU
- Ina May Gaskin,
along with a slew of other midwives, offered her support to the midwives but
not to the couple who have been all but shunned by the community that once
embraced them. The loss mother responded to this with an
openletter to Ina May.
- pretty much par for
the course that money was raised to help the midwives pay for their legal fees
but not for the family, who is also paying legal fees and also had to pay for
birth center fees, EMS fees, hospital fees, and funeral fees.
- 7 cases of Gross
Negligence investigated by the Medical Board of California, which led to
license suspension
- after a new and
completely separate incident, his license has been suspending indefinitely after
a July 2012 home birth in which the baby died
- he still has
followers that believe he lost his job b/c of his popularity and support of
natural childbirth
- this is the midwife
featured in the movie The Business of Being Born
- one
mother labored for over 72 hours after her water broke, transferred to
hospital, had 103 degree temp, baby born and rushed to NICU for a 5 day
stay; midwife told the couple at the postpartum visit "I had a plan the whole time, and you just didn’t trust
me."
- in
2003, a mother sued Muhlhan b/c her son suffers from Erb's Palsey as a result
of trauma from shoulder dystocia during birth, which may be due to the way the
midwife handled the dystocia; the mother also believes the midwife was
negligent that she did not recognize the baby to be too large for vaginal birth
- in
2007, a mother lost her baby under Muhlhan's care. After a long labor, the
baby's heartbeat began to decel during second stage; the baby was born still
- in
2009, another couple lost their baby under Muhlhan's care and is
sueing her for negligence and for failing to transfer. The
mother labored for 3 days before giving birth to a stillborn baby.
Tamra
Roloff, Certified Professional Midwife
(CPM), Washington:
-
August 2009 birth: warned
by her midwife against ultrasounds, the mother did not know her baby was breech
until she was in labor. The baby was partially born during the hospital
transfer in their car but the head was entrapped for the remaining 15 minute
drive. A doctor rushed out and delivered the baby with forceps in the back of
the car. Mother needed surgery to repair her 4th degree tears. Baby
needed resuscitation and was LifeFlighted to
Portland. The baby boy died due to brain injuries.
-
March 2010 birth: after
34 hours of labor after the mother's water broke (labor that was plagued with
maternal fever and high blood pressure), the mother suffered a seizure;
hospital transfer; baby was born still after cesarean due to placental
abruption that took place while she labored at home. The mother nearly lost her
life as well and was LifeFlighted to
Portland, due to eclampsia and acute respiratory distress.
Hurt by Homebirth stories, which highlights far too many negligently
practicing midwives
****
These are
just some of the stories I have read that got to me. Sadly,
there are more. A lot more. More negligence. More sweet babies lost. There have been (and continue to
be) many more stories in the news and there are other stories that didn't make
the news but the moms have shared their home birth loss stories on their blogs
or in online forums, etc.
I don't
think trusting what we see in dramatic television shows is the answer but we
can't just cover our ears, yell "la la la la" and pretend that either
birth always goes perfectly if a "woman is left alone to give birth as our
bodies are designed to do" or that it only goes awry for
those who don't fully "trust birth". Those are extreme beliefs that
are not only dangerous but they are setting up any woman to feel like a failure
if her birth does not go exactly according to plan. I can't tell you the number
of times I have read a woman's birth story who feels that she has failed if any
interventions come into play.
We also
cannot support home birth midwifery to an extreme extent that we won't accept
or acknowledge that not every birth will be normal, that low risk
does not equal no risk, that not every home birth midwife
is ethical, that not every home birth midwife is skilled
enough to be able to handle certain emergency situations, even if they are
certified.
Why is it
such a hard pill to swallow for so many home birth advocates? Is it b/c it
affects their livelihood? Is it pride? Is it ignorance? Is it fear?
As we are
all very different, unique people, we will all process things in our own unique
manner. Two people can witness or experience the exact same thing and walk away
with a different perception and opinion of the event. These stories might not
even make you bat an eyelash. They instead may make you roll your eyes and
think "this crazy doula is just trying to scare me." But for me,
reading stories like these didn't scare me. They shook me. They
added a big dose of reality to a very romanticized notion that I once
believed in... that birth is natural and normal, we just need to trust it and trust our bodies.
