Midwife suspended after botched birth leaves baby needing urgent care

Midwife suspended for substandard care. Photo/File

A midwife has been suspended from practising after inadequate care of a woman giving birth led to the baby having to be resuscitated and transferred to another hospital for care.

The Midwifery Council of New Zealand said its concerns about the midwife's competence were so serious that they constituted reasonable grounds for believing that she posed a risk of serious harm to the public by practising below the required standards of competence.

The Council suspended the woman from practising and in a decision by Health and Disability Commissioner Anthony Hill, released today, he agreed the care was substandard.

He said the pregnant woman and the midwife planned for the birth to take place at a local hospital without obstetric services. The hospital was about two and a half hours' drive from the nearest major hospital.

The midwife never discussed options for a hospital transfer if the need arose.

When the woman went into labour, it progressed very slowly. Despite consultation with a specialist being recommended in such a situation, instead the midwife allowed the woman to continue in labour.

Eventually the baby's head was delivered but the shoulders became stuck.

The baby was born in a very poor condition and had to be resuscitated and rushed to another hospital. The woman suffered a fourth degree perineal tear.

Hill criticised the midwife's care in that she failed to measure the fundal height, failed to recognise that the woman's labour was not progressing normally, did not monitor the baby's heart rate adequately in labour and did not try further recommended manoeuvres to facilitate the delivery of the shoulders.

Hill said the midwife failed to provide essential information that a reasonable person in those circumstances would expect because she did not provide adequate information about transfer should problems arise and did not recommend that a consultation with a specialist was warranted when the progress in labour was slow.

Hill said the midwife had denied the woman the opportunity to make an informed decision about her ongoing care and treatment.

Hill recommended the Council undertake a review of the midwife's competence should she make an application to return to midwifery practice.