Male midwife suspended after attending homebirth

[mears]

Has anyone seen this today? It was in the Scottish Daily Mail but I cannot find a link. Managers at Peterborough District Hospital are refusing to allow planned home deliveries saying there is a shortage of midwives. The male midwife attended when a woman who planned to give birth at home called to say she was in labour. The midwife had already told her she had that right. He was suspended 3 days later. As he says, the hospital is definately short staffed now.

Does anyone have a link to this story - I did missed it. There will be an outcry I am sure by the RCM.

Mears, it was on the R4 headlines this morning ... don't know if you can find on BBC Online? Appalling, isn't it..

Found it.

newstory

I would imagine that he will be lodging an appeal - this is appalling.

The local newspaper has been printing letters of support from mothers for weeks, all saying that he's a fantastic midwife and that the suspension was totally wrong. I think the story is on the www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk site too.

Apparently Paul has agreed not to comment on his sacking. Our local MP had tabled an Early Day motion (is that what it's called?) asking for the issue to be discussed but I don't know what happened to it.

I hadn't followed the story closely, but looking at the BBC report, it looks like the hospital in question had imposed a ban on home births. Surely that's not legal to begin with? How comes no-one has challenged that in the courts?

If he's agreed not to talk about it, it sounds as if they have given him some money to dissappear "quietly". Which of course is even more outrageous if they can find money for that but not for staff or homebirths.

Did he do the home birth on his own, in which case was he breaking the rules and it's this which they got him for, not being there in the first place?

It's a sad story, how must the poor woman who he helped feel?

According to our local newspaper tonight the midwife is going to appeal. It says:

"Mr Beland says he is being supported by his union, the Royal College of Midwives, in preparing a case for the appeal which is likely to take place in the next three weeks.

He said:"The trust maintains that I was in the wrong because I failed to follow a reasonable instruction. But I do not believe that deciding that women cannot give birth at home is reasonable. If I could go back in time I would still be of the same view."

Good for him!

"I do not believe that deciding that women cannot give birth at home is reasonable." says it all really. It's unfortunately too often the case that it takes someone with - as it were - real balls - to take a stand like this, to put their job and livelihood on the line for people to sit up and take notice. It's people like him who chip away at things and who make things change. I would kiss this man if I ever met him.