Midwife Arrested In New York

Amarante

Tue, Mar 05 2019, 3:00 pm

This reminds me of the novel by Chris Bohjalian (Midwives) about the arrest of a midwife.

This is a real news item about a midwife who served the Mennonite community in upstate New York and was arrested.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/0.....epage

Laiya

Tue, Mar 05 2019, 3:30 pm

Amarante wrote:

Do you think this was wrong?

oneofakind

Tue, Mar 05 2019, 3:33 pm

It seems that she has a credential that other states, not NY accept as perfectly legal and until now the authorities looked away because many women don't have access to ob services, they live in middle of nowhere.

Amarante

Tue, Mar 05 2019, 3:38 pm

Laiya wrote:

Do you think this was wrong?

I have very mixed feelings about this specific instance because law is very fact specific and the article didn't have enough facts for me to make a truly informed decision on the specific case.

First - it is unclear what her role was in terms of the dead baby - was she acting as a midwife? Some of the comments state that she wasn't.

Second - I don't know enough about the more stringent licensing requirements in New York State and whether they are appropriate. In general, I would say that I lean towards having more stringent education and licensing for someone who is involved in life or death medical matters

Thirdly - the Mennonite community is very unique and many of these women would be having home births without any midwife (or birth attendant). Evidently the licensed midwife died a few months ago which is when the legal issues arose as to what this woman's actual role is without a licensed midwife in attendance since an adult woman would theoretically have the right to give birth with NO licensed medical personnel

Fourthly (and maybe lastly) - evidently the specific geographic area has very limited medical personnel. This isn't unique to this area as more and more rural areas are suffering from the lack of medical personnel and so there should be a concerted way to creatively bring good medical care to underserved areas even if an area can't support a licensed MD - incentivize PA or Nurse Practitioners who can have expertise for most medical stuff and who will refer complex cases.

Fifthly - the whole arena of home births is troubling to me because there are unexpected things that can go wrong in any child birth and I personally would want to have a well equipped medical facility seconds away - especially since most good hospitals will provide the kind of childbirth experience one wants. This community is quite a distance away from a hospital facility so an emergency home birth would probably arrive at a hospital too late.

r1's later post clarified issues as it is now clearly criminal fraud since she stole the credentials of a licensed medical practice and held herself out to be licensed under New York law.

Last edited by Amarante on Tue, Mar 05 2019, 4:41 pm; edited 1 time in total

Amarante

Tue, Mar 05 2019, 3:39 pm

oneofakind wrote:

Not entirely correct. There was a licensed midwife who died recently and so it only then became an issue because she was attending births with the midwife.

Iymnok

Tue, Mar 05 2019, 3:47 pm

Sentencing her would put the Mennonite community in a worse situation since there is one less of the few who could recognize a problem. A homebirth with no one with any medical knowledge, specifically emergency childbirth knowledge is extremely dangerous for both the mother and child. Experienced midwives who can deliver breech are in short supply internationally.
If they consider the law appropriate, perhaps she should be prohibited from attending until she completes her education to their standards.

Tue, Mar 05 2019, 3:54 pm

The article leaves out very important info and two of the charges she is facing- I was also very much upset at the law for stopping her from helping ppl when they have limited resources etc until I realized she committed serious fraud. She might be a good person, but letting anyone get away with this kind of fraud is setting a horrible precedent.

Would u want a dentist from a differnt country, unlicensed, to perform procedures on his own accord without oversight and regulation? Even if there was no other local dentist a person with ethics would not take that kind of responsibility or risk.

She could have advocated against the laws, fundraised for a few woman to go study or to get a certified midwife down there etc when the other one died

https://www.chronicle-express......onies

Ppl are making this about midwife certification and homebirth but that is only half of the equation, the other is the criminal fraud....

causemommysaid

Tue, Mar 05 2019, 3:58 pm

I think its government overreach. It doesn't sound like she lied to anyone or said she was licensed in NY. Women in the community decided to use her and were making informed decisions. She sounds responsible and doesn't have a record of reckless behavior. Babies die in hospitals also.

Iymnok

Tue, Mar 05 2019, 4:00 pm

R1, thanks, that’s quite a different picture. I hope the community there can find someone suitable for their needs.

Amarante

Tue, Mar 05 2019, 4:07 pm

R1. Thanks for the link. Those specific fraud charges clarify the issues for me especially her claiming affiliation with a medical practice.

That she has supporters among the community is meaningless because licensing is meant to protect the general public from unqualified professionals.

That New York State doesn’t recognize her credentials isn’t a defense since she was claiming qualification under those requirements.

Tue, Mar 05 2019, 4:10 pm

causemommysaid wrote:

If you read the article I posted- she lied to labs and misrepresented herself using other doctor’s information.

Cheiny

Tue, Mar 05 2019, 5:03 pm

Amarante wrote:

Well if she presented herself as licensed, and wasn’t, she’s wrong.

ectomorph

Tue, Mar 05 2019, 6:13 pm

r1 wrote:

If you read the article I posted- she lied to labs and misrepresented herself using other doctor’s information.

And who knows how many kids were injured or suffered brain damage that wasn't necessary because of her reluctance to send people to the hospital.

causemommysaid

Tue, Mar 05 2019, 7:19 pm

r1 wrote:

If you read the article I posted- she lied to labs and misrepresented herself using other doctor’s information.

I only read the original article. I'll check out the one u posted.

dancingqueen

Tue, Mar 05 2019, 7:45 pm

If anyone read the book Educated, there was a plot line about unliscenced midwives that was similar to what happened here, only they didn’t get caught.