to think this 'midwife' should be struck off

[Northernlurkerisbackatwork]

I have been reading an account of an inquest in to the death of a woman who bled to death following a homebirth here

I have no quarrel with the decision to have a home birth. The mother should have been safe enough in competent hands. I cannot believe that a competent midwife would miss that so large a part of the placenta was missing. If there was any doubt about that - and she clearly noticed parts were missing she should have stayed and monitored the mothers condition. In another account I've read it mentions that she was doing CPR on the bed instead of moving the mother to the floor where it would have been most effective.

However it is her comment to the inquest '?Claire had a great pregnancy, she had a really lovely spontaneous birth at home and I hope Simon (the husband) in time will remember that.? What? Remember that shortly before his wife suffered massive blood loss and cardiac arrest she had a normal delivery? And thus be all comforted? Who is she trying to kid. The lack of insight and empathy displayed is chilling. I earnestly hope she isn't permitted to attend another pregnant woman!

Of course this case will be used to hammer home birth - when the issue is in fact a negligent care-giver.

Hospitals midwives almost killed me and left my baby with life long severe brain damage.

I don't know if I trust anyone to look after me in labour.

That hospital in this incident. Are nothing but wholly professional. I had a massively high risk birth there. Which did turn into a huge emergency only 2 months after this poor lady.

Their care was the best out of any trust I've given birth in.

"That sounds to me as if at some stage the relationship between her and the hospital had seriously broken down. Why"

the bad IM I had for my classes had some bonkers ideas about NHS staff and hospitals and said some things that were SO innacurate about hospital MWs that I'm pretty sure she's never set foot inside our local hospitals even though she's worked around the local area for a number of years. She detested NHS midwives and obviously had no intention of building links or communicating with them, kept using phrases like "the hospital MW will tell you X but you don't have to listen, you can choose" (about things that no decent MW hospital or otherwise would say)

I also wonder even if the woman did feel well - because of her past history shouldnt the mw have stayed for a bit anyway to make sure she was ok - i dont know when after birth a heomrage happens but i just think because she was high risk and the consiltant said - she would be therefore more likely to heomrage again...she should have stayed for a while.

also saying....to the husband - she has just given birth of course she doesnt feel well - also implies she had no ideas of the previous risks?

A high risk lady has had a home birth her husband is concerned - shouldnt alarm bells be ringing, erring on the side of caution>

I also thought that part of the point of having a private MW is that they do stay for a while afterwards to help with breast feeding and basically tuck you and your baby and OH up and look after you a bit before leaving - sounds like she just "clocked off" as soon as the placenta was delivered which is not what you pay 3K for!

In hospital where pph is a concern or has been a factor before.

Extra blood is reserved. Your obs are watched for longer. You are observed for longer. Given drugs to aid with placenta delivery and contraction. Also my birth was so high risk. The consultant stayed until the delivery of the placenta. At midnight. Then left when I was out of the worst.

Hideous, poor husband

Although you do wonder why if her first pregnancy had been problematic she would ever take the risk of a homebirth and also why the husband didn't intervene. I wonder at what point 999 was dialed?

999 was dialled after she'd stopped breathing. It's pretty much game over then if you aren't in hospital as you've lost too much blood.

So I was told. I pphd in hospital after my first. Thank Christ I had a hospital birth is all I can say!

House of Plain,

Amazing, its so worrying it really is. One wonders about so many things here - the birth at home in the first place - the light/placenta......but also not coming immedialty when the husband has expressed concerns....esp with that past history and also being paid that much. How long does it take to add two and two together.

This doesnt put me off HB, it just makes me very wary of that mad hardcore fanatical group of natural birthers who just insist on natural births no matter what!

Helen Allott was my consultant through three high risk & extremely traumatic pregnancies. She is a marvellous doctor & specialises in caring for women who have had traumatic obstetric experiences (for example she runs a tiny clinic in her lunch hour for women who have had stillbirths & late losses & therefore find sitting in a standard antenatal clinic difficult.). I wish that Claire Teague had had access to that sort of care.

This MW made a mistake in her job, we have all done it.

And a mother died.

She has to live with that for the rest of her life.

None of us know the full facts, and it is very unlikely to be being reported accurately.

"This doesnt put me off HB, it just makes me very wary of that mad hardcore fanatical group of natural birthers who just insist on natural births no matter what!"

that is definitely the right warning to take from this! I hope people don't get put off either HBs or IMs! But you do need to be warey of a particular camp which actually HATE the mainstream and scare monger about it while denying the risks of home births and necessity of safeguards!

Also for what IMs cost I think its pretty disgusting that she didn't come back when the husband was concerned, even if there were none of the risk factors! you pay that much for the relationship and time and listening ear as much as anything else!

"This MW made a mistake in her job, we have all done it."

No, no, no! This just isn't a wee mistake! This is gross incompetence!

However, this midwife will be comforted by knowing that "Claire had a great pregnancy, she had a really lovely spontaneous birth at home."

""This doesnt put me off HB, it just makes me very wary of that mad hardcore fanatical group of natural birthers who just insist on natural births no matter what!"

that is definitely the right warning to take from this! I hope people don't get put off either HBs or IMs! But you do need to be warey of a particular camp which actually HATE the mainstream and scare monger about it while denying the risks of home births and necessity of safeguards!"

I quite agree with Lurking. I am not against home births, I've had one myself, but this woman with a previous history of a C section and PPH should have been in hospital and should have been monitored so much more closely.

how you respond to a mistake at work makes all the difference.
Had she stayed after her mistake like she should have, had she come back when called, had she not belittled the partners concerns... the outcome could have been very different

and then even once the woman died, had she responded humbly not defensively..

If made mistakes in a job where it is life and death. recognising your mistake and acting on it and alerting others and calling help makes the difference between a bit of a fright and a pain in the arse lot of paper work.. and someone dying!

This will put people off hb though I bet. I would never have one anyway but all this just cements this in my mind. NO WAY

um kayano THE HOSPITAL wAs the place that brain damaged my baby

Maybe I will also take a chance that an HB would be safer next time

This type of reporting simply perpetuates the HB is dangerous myth, it is a woman's right to choose when presented with the information about her pregnancy. This woman chose a HB with a midwife, the midwife made a mistake, as above midwives AND doctors make mistakes in university teaching hospitals too.

They need to look into WHY she did though, and was she forced. I know for a fact. That any Mw in that area with her history, wouldn't have even covered a hb in the first appt. it would have been a no go.

Rightly so.

Orange your motivation to do so would be totally understandable, and I'ld defend your right to choose an IM or HB so long as you are well informed and properly supervised (are you aware that IMs are currently fighting to not be banned next year?). But I hope you do not come across anyone like the MW in this case if you do choose this. There are some fantastic IMs out there and there IS a need for women to be allowed to choose them. I absolutely defend that but can't defend this bad egg!

"This type of reporting simply perpetuates the HB is dangerous myth"
no birth is risk free
HBs are generally relatively safe

but people who say that HBs are totally risk free for everyone are dangerous and need to be weeded out of independant midwifery

Viva if you're talking about this quote

"As Claire felt completely well at the time, I'm very sure they would have declined my suggestion to transfer"

I read 'they' as the couple, not the hospital?

No I hadn't seen that quote.

Another poster, joanofarchitrave, said that the midwife had said that she didn't think the hospital would accept the transfer. I was talking about that. Tough haven't seen that quote for myself so not sure where it came from.

If a midwife, independent or otherwise, contacted a hospital requesting a transfer, why WOULDNT the hospital take her? Especially if the mw mentioned PPH at any point?
It's hard not to think that such a statement from the mw is a cop-out, if she's referring to "they" as the hospital.
And as far as "they" being the couple, surely the mw at some points needs to move beyond suggestion to "no, this is what is going to happen."
But if she didn't stick around, missed the retained bit of placenta and was fully expecting that everything would be fine, then transfers were quite likely never even on the agenda until things suddenly got complicated.

As a midwife if I was caring for a woman at home who I thought needed a transfer and the woman was declining to go in, etc. I would call the ambulance. Then there can be no doubt about how serious I am. If she still chose not to go then noone could blame me for that.