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Original poster

surprised that there isn't a thread on the midwife being struck off and the

82 replies

2shoes · 27/01/2010 22:17

call for independant midwives to be made to have insurance only link I could find to story

about time imo

OP posts:
welshdeb · 27/01/2010 22:22

I read the story in the press and was horrified

Cocodrillo · 27/01/2010 22:27

As the mother of a 3 yr old with CP, I think home birth is loopy TBH. And I wanted one!

edam · 27/01/2010 22:31

Good grief.

The thing about insurance is that there is no insurance available to independent midwives. No company will cover them. Because if you are unfortunate enough to have one case that goes wrong it could cost millions. Think obsetric negligence cases are the biggest legal hit the NHS takes. (Because damages awarded quite properly reflect the need for life-long care.)

I'm sure independent midwives would be only too happy to have insurance - but they just can't get it.

EccentricaGallumbits · 27/01/2010 22:32

Don't know enough detail to comment but Independent Midwives Can't get insurance not won't.

Original poster
2shoes · 27/01/2010 22:33

i know edam(as someone who had that happen) i think that is why it shocks me that my hair dresser/builder would have insurance but a midwife not

OP posts:
Slartybartfast · 27/01/2010 22:35

shocking story.

Meglet · 27/01/2010 22:37

I just saw it on the bbc site too. Make me feel sick just reading it.

glintwithpersperation · 27/01/2010 22:40

The risks of a homebirth are exactly the same as a hospital birth. It certainly isn't loopy to have a home birt and some would consider a home birth completely sensible. I have worked with many children with severe complex cp whohavoneon multiple millions from botched hospital births.

It should be noted that the midwife in question did not represent herself in court.

glintwithpersperation · 27/01/2010 22:41

That should say who have won

Original poster
2shoes · 27/01/2010 22:42

yes thay have multi millions.........because hospitals are insured.

OP posts:
HellBent · 27/01/2010 22:43

That is horrific!

HellBent · 27/01/2010 22:44

Will she get compensation from somewhere else then?

Cocodrillo · 27/01/2010 22:46

glint sorry, I am going off-topic, but I cannot agree with you there, if something goes tits-up at home, you need to eg get to hosptial for an emergency CS, and those vital minutes could mean the difference between disabled and not. It's lovely for mum and baby if all goes well, but if it doesn't, you're looking at a lifetime of regret.

mamazon · 27/01/2010 22:47

why is it important that she didnt represen herself?

I read this in the news too.
From the description given i can't even comprehend the trauma that poor mother went through...and i had a horrific labour/birth with DS.

lou031205 · 27/01/2010 22:48

Full case report here

Alibabaandthe40nappies · 27/01/2010 22:48

That is awful, what on earth came over her??

Does it not strike anyone else though, that even if she was paying to have a private homebirth, that she should have had standard scans and other routine NHS appointments which would have perhaps picked up the diabetes and therefore contraindicated a home birth?

It raises no end of questions.

SilverSixpence · 27/01/2010 22:50

this mother was diabetic too - which is high risk for having a big baby who could have shoulder dystocia (i.e. get stuck) - so its not a typical case, but then the midwife should have realised the risks and acted accordingly.

The scissors bit was horrific. What was with the video clip though?

glintwithpersperation · 27/01/2010 22:52

Coco look at the research - the risks of being in hospital are stastically the same as being at home. The risks are just different.

The daughter had a brachial plexus injury. Ihave treated many babies with this condition, all occurred in nhs hospitals.

Slartybartfast · 27/01/2010 22:52

so actually lack of insurance means we are talkign about not being able to make a claim of compensation?
is this what we are disucssing?
and how much compensation is necessary?
the baby has erb's palsy and the mother has had surgery to her bowel.

Peachy · 27/01/2010 22:52

Cocodrillocan I give you a very stronga rgument for HB availability?

the fact we knew I would ahve a short labour ( was 35 minutes) and by the time we had got in the car would not have amde it, he would have been birthed in Tesco car park.

I appreciate your angle but cases vary- lots of different situations. As it was one MW amde it, we didnt have to findcarers (nearest was Somerset,we are in Wales) for the boys (2 sn) and all was well.

I know a few peolpewith COP and birth injury but there was no way I could have made it to a hospital- acarefully planned HB with sterile rqui8pment etc is a great alternative.

edam · 27/01/2010 22:58

The full report is chilling. I imagine the mother must have thought the midwife was doing her job, making the right observations, and would have told her if it there was any reason why a scan or hospital consultation was necessary. Sadly her trust in her midwife was very misplaced.

RollBaubleUnderTree · 27/01/2010 22:59

There are some things the reporting does not tell us. For instance was it known that the mum had gestational disbetes, if not why not. She should have been having blood tests. Was she under the care of an obstetrician.

Sounds like the baby had shoulder dystocia and the midwife was tryind to perform a manoeuvre to get the baby out and could not get room, hence the cutting (sounds awful). The erbs palsy is always a risk when there is shoulder dystocia and may well have happened with any midwife. Of course this baby should never have been born at home.

Since the midwife did not defend herself there is only one side of the story. Could be she thought it was indefensable or could be she isn't interested in working anymore.

edam · 27/01/2010 23:03

The midwife lied to the original investigators - that much is pretty clear from the NMC report. She had every opportunity to answer the allegations but chose not to turn up at the final hearing. She also failed to follow the correct protocol for dealing with shoulder dystocia, by the sounds of it. So while it is true that any baby may suffer from shoulder dystocia, any other decent competent midwife would have responded to that condition appropriately. This (ex) midwife did not.

Original poster
2shoes · 27/01/2010 23:06

Cocodrillo i think our expierence's cloud our judgement of home births(dd would have died if born at home and the same stuff happened, she has cp) so that is why I don't want to bring it into this thread(you can just not me)
I just can't get my head round that fact that a midwife has no insurance and is still allowed to practice, because of course this family should be able to claim.

OP posts:
verylittlecarrot · 27/01/2010 23:08

cocdrillo, this recent Canadian study shows that planned home birth attended by a registered midwife was associated with very low and comparable rates of perinatal death and reduced rates of obstetric interventions and other adverse perinatal outcomes compared with planned hospital birth attended by a midwife or physician.

In other words, the homebirths were LESS risky than the hospital births. And yes, the risk factors for each maternal group were closely matched to allow an 'apples to apples' comparison.

I'm planning a HB any day now precisely because I feel there is a better chance of a good outcome for both the baby and myself.

You might want to rethink the, er, 'loopy' comment?