If I want to wash your hair in the state of Oregon, I’m required to complete 1450 hours of training, 150 hours of safety and infection control training, and 100 hours of career development training. I must also pass both a practical and written examination. If I want to deliver your baby, I just have to tell you that I’m a midwife.
And it’s not just Oregon. All across the country, there are lax standards for homebirth midwives. Like Oregon, Utah offers voluntary licensure, and fifteen other states offer no regulation at all. There are some states where lay midwifery is illegal, but in almost all cases, midwives flout the law and are rarely prosecuted. Even in states where it’s amazingly easy to become a legal midwife. In fact, there’s even a book that brazenly describes how to do it and get away with it. Unfortunately, there can be tragic consequences when a woman chooses a poorly trained “midwife,” but under the law, there is little that can be done.
- Since licenses are not required, they can’t be charged for practicing without a license.
- Because licenses are not required, there are no standards of practice they are bound to follow; they can take on high-risk patients with impunity, among other questionable practices. There are no penalties for violating reasonable standards of practice, as there are for OB-GYNs or CNMs, because there aren’t any standards!
- There are no standards for the use of the term “midwife”, so they can’t be charged for falsely representing their skills.
- There are no educational standards — When it comes to homebirth and the eyes of Oregon law, midwives with doctorates in Nursing are equal with those who’ve taken a weekend seminar in midwifery.
- There is no insurance required, so these midwives are judgment proof, even if by some miracle gross negligence was proven. No attorney is willing to take on a malpractice case when there is no insurance involved. Just in case, though, there are online resources for midwives explaining how to brainwash your clients to keep them from suing you or reporting you to the police.
So what about those voluntarily licensed midwives? The requirements are hardly stringent. In order to get licensed, you have to attend 25 births as a midwife — only 10 of which need to have been in the past two years — take a written exam, write a plan for how you’re going to transport a mother who needs it, and obtain a CPR certification. In contrast, a CNM or OB/GYN will attend hundreds of births before receiving their licensure. LDMs in Oregon could be anywhere from completely incompetent to excellent caregivers.
So just do your homework, right? Like Mothering and Birth Without Fear are always telling us, just make sure your midwife is one of the competent ones and nothing bad will happen to you! But how can you tell? Unfortunately, the Oregon Health Licensing Agency, the entity that regulates direct entry midwives (DEMs) in Oregon, has done a terrible job of protecting consumers. Thirty percent of licensed Oregon midwives have complaints against them pending before the Board. Which ones are they? You won’t be able to tell from the OHLA website, since even midwives currently on probation have no special notation regarding their status on the Board’s searchable database. There is no malpractice database, as there is for OB/GYNs and CNMs, so you can’t easily find if a midwife in whom you’re interested has been sued. Why not? Because licensed midwives aren’t required to carry malpractice insurance, either, so even in the most egregious cases there has not only been no compensation for the victims, but there is no warning for future victims either.
But the state or SOMEONE has a searchable database of outcomes, right? Maybe you could look at the stats from an area and ascertain if the midwives working there have good outcomes? Wrong again! The state legislature charged the OHLA to keep records of outcomes of home births, but they’ve failed to do so. Because of this, we have no official database on direct entry midwifery in Oregon. Melissa Cheyney, Ph.D., at Oregon State University does have a registry of Oregon homebirth outcomes, but has absolutely refused to release it to anyone outside the Midwives Alliance of North America (MANA), of which she just happens to be the research director. If fact, in order to gain access to the data, you must pledge to use it to the benefit of midwifery. Oddly enough, no one has been able to get their hands on it.
So what do you do if you want to find a competent midwife in Oregon? Ask her? Of COURSE any midwife will be completely honest about her record and give you references from parents who have been harmed by her lack of skill. Just ask Bambi Chapman.
Not only this, but licensed midwives in Oregon actively fight any attempt to regulate their practice or report poor outcomes. In the last couple of years, Oregon has seen several deaths during attempted home breech deliveries. Because of this, the legislature considered making it illegal for licensed midwives to attend breech births at home. However, as with any birth-related legislation discussion in this state, they raised such a stink (and shouted down their opposition), that nothing was done. When a hospital in Portland attempted to report poor outcomes dumped on their doorstep, they and the OHLA were sued, and it was framed as “Look at this big bad hospital harassing these poor midwives.”If I were queen of Oregon, how would I handle this? My goal would not be to take away the right of women to have a homebirth (I bold this because I know I will be accused of just that); I just want it to be SAFE. [In every case where there is regulation of midwives, there are no restrictions on PARENTS. If you find a unicorn to attend your birth in a cave, that is, and should absolutely remain, your right. However, if that unicorn claims that it will help you birth safely and then gores your baby? It should face repercussions for that.] There are several things I would do…
- Require that those advertising themselves as homebirth midwives meet truly stringent educational and clinical standards, comparable to those of CNMs
- Mandate the reporting of outcomes for every birth and keep a publicly accessible database of this data
- Require malpractice insurance for anyone advertising themselves as a midwife
- Provide both criminal and civil punishments for those who practice without meeting the standards, even without poor outcomes
I don’t understand why so many midwives are willing to put up with negligence and incompetence in their midst. Any other profession would be chomping at the bit to throw the bums out, not circling the wagons! Is it because they care more about advancing the cause of midwifery than they do about the women for whom they are providing care? This shouldn’t be the case!
How can Oregon turn it around and stop these tragedies from taking place? How would you fix this?
bravo Heather! i am behind you 100% lets go talk to some legislators…
I’m gonna link this on every NCB site I know of.
Fantastic post.
This is just a wonderful summary of everything that is wrong with our midwifery licensing program in Oregon. Heather, you my new hero!
On top of all you said, here’s something I posted on Dr. Amy’s site that will shock readers further: The State of Oregon also doesn’t care if a midwife has had to stop practicing in another state due to malpractice and licensing problems. In 2009, I contacted them about multiple acts of gross malpractice by Portland midwife Laura Erickson. In preparing my complaint for state officials, I discovered that Erickson had been investigated by the Minnesota atty general in 1999. She was basically forced to stop practicing in MN, but months later she showed up in Oregon and got licensed without so much as a hiccup. In fact, when I spoke to licensing board investigators, it was news to them that Erickson had ever had problems in another state! One of the sites I found has been taken down since then but you can still see it on the Wayback Machine:
http://web.archive.org/web/20080517171435/http://www.minnesotanaturalhealth.org/newsletters/midwives.html
Another site:
http://www.paynesvillearea.com/news/headlinesarticles/archives/032598/Localmidwifestopspractice.html
And yet, despite this, despite Erickson having failed to mention these legal troubles to Oregon officials, and despite her ongoing negligence and malpractice in the state of Oregon, despite her refusing at first to turn over relevant records when requested by investigators…not only is she still practicing, as far as public record shows the case was closed without even so much as a reprimand. In fact, as her bio on her current practice’s site shows, she was even an instructor and director at the big midwifery school in Portland:
http://www.almamidwifery.com/midwives/laura.html
I know of two losses that happened under her care and how do I know of them? Because she BLABBED about them to me! She has no regard for patient privacy, and if a mother rubs her the wrong way she may mishandle her care or abandon her with no referral and, because of Oregon’s insane midwifery laws, no recourse. Ultimately, after verbally abusing me over the phone, that’s what she did to me–dropped me like a hot potato at 29 weeks into my second pregnancy through Alma, not for risk factors but “personality conflict.” She did not transfer me to another practitioner.
Erickson fudged my records to make it look like she did her job but the reality is that if a vital came out “bad” she would say “let’s just forget that one” and not write it down. I was discouraged from testing for GD and GBS in case I turned out positive. I was discouraged from transferring care to hospital when it was appropriate. She is very clearly practicing with an eye toward not getting caught again, and not toward serving women and keeping us safe–not to mention the poor babies.
There are NO consequences. It is nuts and absolutely disgraceful to my state. And yes I am posting variations on this comment everywhere I can think of because there is just no other way to get out the word about unsafe midwives. Women I have talked to in Portland who had a bad experience with Alma Midwifery and Laura Erickson also report being shunned, shut up, and disbelieved. Review sites like Yelp or Citysearch will sometimes purge negative reviews out of cowardice. It is so hard to get the word out and frustrating that someone can physically injure you and your baby and traumatize you and is judgment proof…but there is nothing, NOTHING you can do to effectively warn others to steer clear of them.
It’s hideous that she still does this, I linked this article to her facebook page.
I’m curious what you mean specifically and where I can see the link on facebook. I’m still networking trying to find others who have had bad experiences as there is strength in numbers.
I linked this article to alma midwifery, her facebook page. Last I checked it was still there. I’m hoping potential clients will read this and find another caregiver. I’m also hoping she personally reads this.
My friend had a baby July 24th. Her name is Margarita. she had 2 midwives in attendence, Laura Tanner and Darby Partner. Both are unlicensed. They left her laboring for 8 days. Around the 6th day they started asking attendees to leave. One by one they sent her friends and those that were planning to be present at the birth away, saying that Margarita needed peace to progress. I suspect that since Margaritas water broke and was green in color (some of the friends questioned that), they wanted to get them out of the way. This was to be Darby’s first solo birth and she certainly didn’t want anything to interfere with her big moment. Once they got the others to leave they locked the doors and would not let them back in to see Margarita. They also never told Margarita that her friends had come to the door. After a while even phone contact was cut off. Even Margarita’s husband who was stuck in India could not reach his laboring wife. Both midwives would not even answer their phones, but would send out occasional text to report Margarita and baby were doing fine. On one occasion Margarita begged to go to the hospital but they re-assured her that all was good and she eventually said ok. Another time she begged to be taken and they stayed in the other room and ignored her crys for help. The 7th night Margarita got hold of her phone and quickly texted she was dilated 8. By morning of the 8th day still no baby,and still no contact with Margarita. I for one was frantic and even wondered if in fact Margarita was even alive. I live several hours away from Eugene. As a registered nurse I felt panic because of what I call “the red flags”. Margarita was pre-eclamptic( Darby told her the high blood pressure readings were high because the blood pressure cuff was too small for her arm).makes everything okay!. A situation the midwife refused to acknowledge. She was over due. Her water had been broke for greater than 48 hours. I have known Margarita since her childhood and did not believe that she wanted her friends and loved ones excluded after all the preparation for the birth plan. In desperation I asked several people to attempt to get in the house and have Margarita call me. The doors were kept locked and were only opened a crack by the midwives. they were sent away. I finally called the eugene police at 11:51 AM. I explained that I was a registered nurse and was concerned about her and the babies safety. I explained it from a medical perspective to show the seriousness of them doing a safety check on Margarita. My request was denied. I also left several messages on Darby’s cell phone. While she never returned my calls she did text my daughter and my sister to re-assure them that Margarita was 9.5 cm and her and baby were doing well as evidenced by his heart rate. That was only an effort to keep me from bringing the police since I threatened in my message was my next step if she did not let us speak with Margarita. I then attempted to call adult protective services. They refer you back to law enforcement on week-ends. I then called Eugene PD again at 1:41 PM and reminded them that I was a mandated reporter and that I need them to go check on the safety of Margarita and the baby. They finally agreed to send someone. Shortly after 4:00 PM I was notified by Margaritas husband via e-mail that Margarita was at the hospital and the baby did not survive. The midwives did not even have a nasal syringe with them to attempt remove the meconium. No oxygen. According to Margarita they argued on how to even do CPR on the baby.
This baby did not have to die. The medical examiner determined he was a healthy full term baby. The need to license midwives in this state and every state is critical. These woman willfully practiced bad medicine, ignored standard practices and cast a ugly shadow on competent skilled midwives.They held this poor women hostage and according to a detective in the Eugene police department broke no laws since unlicensed midwives in Oregon are not regulated. Imprisoning her was considered void because the one time she agreed not to go after they convinced her that the baby and she were both fine. That is barbaric! I have given birth 5 times natually and can tell you that at some point the pain can be so great that I could not be expected to make a good decision let alone advocate for my self. That is what you trust your birth team to do for you! Whoever they are. they robbed her of her team and made all the decisions. ALL THE WRONG DECISIONS!! Before they deleted their web sites the information posted gave the strong impression that they both were more than capable and experienced. I am not against midwives by any means. I would have even used one myself but never had the opportunity. I believe they knew they did wrong because Margaritas birthing journal and medical records disappeared from her house while she was at the hospital. they did return them when Margarita insisted they be returned but Margarita saw both women writing in them and the one returned had only one midwives entries. I will leave that assumption up to you all and what it could possibly mean! Birth is a natual process but even prudent Doctors will call in help when they find a situation turning bad. We have to raise up and demand that the people we entrust to our care are held accountable and have more than a store bought certificate and a fancy web site. I am willing to stand up and do what needs to be done to protect the babies from monsters like this. You can count me in.
Renee, I am devastated for Margarita and her husband’s loss, and also for the pain and anger you must be feeling now. You tried so, so hard to protect your friend.
Thank you for your courage in sharing this. There are many women working to ensure that travesties like this are no longer allowed to happen. I’m certain they will welcome your support.
This is truly horrifying. I am so, so sorry for Margarita and her husband. I can’t even imagine how this must feel, and after such an awful ordeal!
Renee, thank you for coming here. I cannot believe there is nothing that can be done! I can’t believe the police refused to help! These “midwives” make me sick. I wish I had the words to express just how angry I am on Margarita’s behalf. Hopefully this will ruin Darby and Laura’s career’s. I wish more residents of your state cared about the babies that are dying preventable deaths and the parents suffering. If there is ANYTHING we can do, please just say the word!
Renee, If you search on facebook for ‘fed up with natural childbirth’ you will find a lot of people who are fighting for this too. I hope to see you there.
It’s truly unbelievable that our state will just let these women walk away with NO accountability. At the very least, we MUST make licensing MANDATORY.
I’m so sorry for your friend’s loss, and the shock and anger you must be feeling on her behalf because of this gross injustice.
Thank you for coming here! I knew this is what had happened before you said anything! Some people were questioning why her friends hadn’t called the police and I said they probably did, but the police refused to help. The police are pretty worthless in this situation. I hope you got the names of every single person you talked to because I would and then I would call each of them back and let them know the baby died. They could have at least come with you and asked some questions.
That scares me more than you know…
I have been trying to figure out just what Erickson’s reputation was in Minnesota. I felt like I had been punched in the stomach when I found out she had been run out of there, she had said nothing about it and made it sound like they just wanted to move to OR because it would be fun or something. Of course I’m sure she sees it as having been persecuted but it would have been nice to know as a client!! Through the medical board I can look up and see that my childhood doctor had a lot of malpractice suits for misdiagnosis, and a former OB of mine was under supervision 20 years ago for an alcohol problem…why no such transparency for midwives?
*******, I had a complaint against me in MN in 1997. The family was 100% happy with my care. The baby had mild MAS. No death or injury. The AG office chewed on me for several months. I stopped working as a midwife because it scared me. Liam. my youngest was a nursing newborn. When the investigation was complete and no wrong doing was discovered, I was sent a letter saying that after a thorough investigation , no wrong doing was discovered. I then worked as a midwife 3 plus years before moving to Oregon. I wasn’t fleeing anything. I had been homeschooling and wanted a Waldorf highschool for my kids. I had one loss in 14 years of prairie Midwifery. That baby girl died from major anomolies at 30 weeks gestation. If you want to speak with me about your care please call Alma. I have nothing to hide. I have now been a Midwife for many happy years. I have an excellent record. You could hire 100 private detectives with sharp spades and they couldn’t dig up anything. I have no deep secrets. Bless you Mama, Let’s talk soon so you can parent without the distraction of the story you have spun about me! It will be liberating! I know it is you because you are my sole complaint in my 10 years in Portland. – warmly Laura
Oh, one more thing. When the pediatrician made the complaint against me in MN. The family and the rest of my clients fund raised to fund my attorney’s fees. If you are curious about my MN Midwifery practice please contact me directly. Almamidwife@gmail.com It is sad that Anon made it sound like I was Bonny and Clyding it out of Minnesota. Nothing so crazy romantic in my life. In fact I had a kid with the runs as we drove cross country. Amazing how few rest stops there are in Montana. That’s the only “running” I recall.
Regardless of who you believe me to be, Ms. Erickson, you just shared a patient’s real life name on an internet forum without her permission. That’s GOT to be a heinous violation of privacy laws, and if it isn’t (I’d be VERY surprised if it is not) then it is surely a violation of your professional ethics as a midwife and any possible interpretation of basic professionalism, period.
It doesn’t matter what a patient says about their experience, how wrongheaded you think she is, how much you want to argue that she’s done you wrong. YOU RESPECT HER PRIVACY. And her story is HERS to tell, at her discretion, wherever she wants to, whenever she wants to, as anonymously or not anonymously as she wants to. That kind of SELF DETERMINATION is supposedly what midwives are all about. Have you at last no sense of decency?
You may have noticed that my screen name here forms a click-through link. There’s an email address there and if you really wanted a warm, fuzzy heart-to-heart you could have contacted me privately that way. The fact that you instead chose to name a name publicly and violate a former patient’s privacy says VOLUMES about who you are as a person and as a midwife and is more damning than anything those “100 private detectives” could dig up, right off the bat.
If you’re such a fantastic, first rate, problem-free midwife, why bother harassing a former patient online? Why not just keep your mouth shut and look professional and restrained and keep on doing your job well? Shouldn’t all the glowing reviews you garner out-shout the discontent patients, if there’s so few mistakes in your past and so many successes? Clearly you are scared that if I tell the truth about you, other women will come forward too. Otherwise, why bother? Getting bad reviews now and then is part of being a professional. Most of them cope with it. What’s YOUR deal?
Wow, did you seriously just use a person’s first name to out them when they are posting anonymously? That is an amazing lack of ethics, whether or not it violates privacy laws. Actions like that are rapidly undermining the professionalism of midwives. Not to mention the patronizing tone, and the sheer teeth grinding sickly sweet endearments.
A home birth midwife once asked why I didn’t even bother trying to home birth (since I’m so crunchy in every other way) – it’s actions like this. Lack of professionalism, forced intimacy, emotional coercion and a total lack of ethics. Not to mention the convenient misuse and abuse of statistics (use them to promote home birth as safer for low risk, but ignore them for everything else).
What are anomolies? Do you perhaps mean anomalies?
Or did you, a simple prarie midwife, invent a new medical term?
This is important…I have started a blog where women can send their experiences with Oregon homebirth and birth center midwives. It’s time.
http://oregonmidwifereviews.blogspot.com/
Excellent post. And horrifying that it needed to be written.
The recent tragedy in Eugene is so very, very sad. I have lost several nights sleep thinking about how this could happen in my state. As some of you might know, during the last legislative session in Oregon, a bill was introduced, House Bill 2380, which would have made midwifery licensure mandatory rather than voluntary. That part of the bill was stripped out. The Oregon Midwifery Council lobbied heavily to get it defeated and it was removed in committee. (It doesn’t help that the wife of one of the representatives on the House Health Committee had a recent home birth). The recent incident is exemplary of why licensure should be mandatory. I think a bill could be reintroduced next session. It is time for like-minded people to organize.
Patsy do you know of any specific reps who might be sympathetic (maybe OB doctors or something?) who we could write to for help with this?
Please contact Senator Bates. He is a doctor and he reached out to us after reading Margarita’s story in the Eugene Register-Guard. I think he would be very interested in hearing your experience.
Capitol Phone: 503-986-1703
District Phone: 541-282-6502
Capitol Address: 900 Court St NE, S-205, Salem, OR, 97301
District Office Address: 2859 State Street #101, Medford, OR, 97504
Email: sen.alanbates@state.or.us
Website: http://www.leg.state.or.us/bates
The bill was sponsored by Rep. Mitch Greenlick who is the co-chair of the House Health Committee. I went to listen to part of the hearing. The room was packed with home birth supporters. Two people testified in favor of manditory licensure, a nurse and an Ob from OHSU. About 16 peole testified against (midwives, mothers and dads.) The medical community had written a letter and got over 150 signatures from MDs, RNs and concerned citizens. The letter was pretty much ignored – they already know what the medical community thinks. (To see the letter google: Randy Everitt February 13, 2011.) I think politicians respond more to constituents in their district. I plan to write a letter to Rep. Greenlick and maybe try to get an appt. to meet with him. If a similar bill is introduced in the next session, we need to get a letter writing campaign going, and find people to testify.
When I was poking around online last night I found out that the Oregon Midwifery Council employs a lobbyist to promote their cause. That’s what we’re up against, here. Their newsletter was passing the hat around to raise funds to keep the lobbyist paid.
One thing we could do right away is make sure that someone, preferably several someone, representing our group was present at every.single.meeting of their board in Salem. Looking at the minutes from past meetings, they are almost exclusively attended by hb midwives, even though they are open to the public. We can start by making our presence known consistently and firmly.
I started going to the board meetings last September. I’ve been to most of them. I keep a low profile. The official minutes of the meetings are not published until they have been approved by the full board, so there is usually a several months delay. In truth, the meetings are pretty boring but I usually learn some interesting tidbit. I hate the drive from Portland to Salem, and would love to have some company. The next meeting is August 24 (I think) and I am sort of planning to go. (Not 100% sure if I can.) It is a committee meeting, not the full board. They are working on Informed Consent brochures for high risk births. They were supposed to have them completed by now, but had to extend the date. The next full board meeting is sometime in September. I do think there is a way to listen to the full board meetings on line but I never tried it.
Yes, the OMC does have a lobbyist. The medical community also has lobbyists from Oregon ACOG, Oregon Medical Assoc., and OHSU. The Oregon Medical Association was able to get a provision introduced into HB 2380 to prevent Obs from getting sued after a home birth transfer. This may improve the transfer process. The legislative hearings can also be heard on line.
In Australia, ‘midwife’ is a legally protected term like doctor. To call yourself a midwife you have to meet minimum education standards set by the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Accreditation Council. These standards basically amount to a nursing degree with additional postgraduate study or, more recently, direct entry Bachelor programs (4 years) at a university. These courses have both an academic and clinical component.
Midwives then have to be registered with the same national board that registers nurses – the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia. This board is overseen by the same national agency that reviews all other health practitioners and enables you to check the registration of your midwife (I just found my hospital midwife, pleased but not surprised to find she has no suspensions or reprimands). To become registered and remain registered they need to follow certain practice guidelines. I am not entirely clear on the insurance requirements – they’ve been the subject of some activity over the last couple of years and I’m not sure where it’s wound up.
One thing these guidelines cover, that I think is particularly important in homebirth, is consultation and referral protocols. There is a list of basically everything that can crop up antenatally and during labour and a notation about whether a midwife should attend to it herself, consult with a colleague, consult with a medical practitioner or transfer primary care of her client to a medical practitioner.
The website for the board is here http://www.nursingmidwiferyboard.gov.au/
The board endorses the position statement of the Australian College of Midwives on homebirth. I haven’t read it fully yet, but it can be found here
http://www.midwives.org.au/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=MIDW/ccms.r?pageid=10092
What can also be found here that I haven’t had a chance to look at yet, is a literature review on homebirth in the Australian and international context.
Finally and anecdotally, what you see with such a system in place is a bit less pseudo-science and, I believe, safer homebirth options. Of the three friends I know of who have planned homebirths one delivered so fast her midwife didn’t have time to get there, one was found by her midwife shortly before her due date to have concerning blood pressure and was transferred immediately for a c-section for preeclampsia, and the third was transferred during labour because the midwife had concerns about the fetal heart beat. All mothers and babies were well.
This is surely not a panacea for homebirth safety, but it still boggles my mind that anyone would consider it acceptable to see women birthing at home with anything less than these protections in place.
A midwife in Australia not only told my friend that blue babies are normal, but that babies need resuscitation all the time, and that is normal too. Not to mention a few other things in labour that would have home birth advocates screaming birth rape if they happened anywhere else, but since it was at home, and it saved my friend from a section, it was okay.
Oh, she’s also anti vax and unvaccinated herself and counsels to avoid vax, as well as most other ‘interventions’ like vitamin k, GD testing and still managed to do more VEs than my obstetrician in a private hospital.
That’s terrible. Certainly our system isn’t a silver bullet – I’ve come across some pretty woo-tastic midwives myself – but at the very least there’s recourse and a general acceptance of what the standards should be.
I hope your friend and her baby were alright.
Yeah, they were fine. And still insist that their birth experience was better than mine in every respect, and I should have a home birth next time.
Renee, I am sorry and horrified to read what the Eugene PD did (or more accurately, refused) to do.
I worked for a police department in another state. I don’t know what the laws are in Oregon, but I would strongly suggest that you contact the state police and the FBI (if they locked her in and refused to let her out….how the hell is it NOT kidnapping? Haven’t they ever heard of “Stockholm Syndrome” in the Eugene PD??)
Trust me, the last thing the Eugene PD would want is to have another agency sniffing around and bugging them about how they dropped the ball on this case, especially if it is coming from the Feds.
I failed to mention last night that the Eugene PD never did do the welfare check. The next call to emergency services was the 911 (sometime after 3:30 or later) call after the midwives were unsuccessful in the rescusitation efforts. Thank-you all for the support. I know it will mean a lot to Margarita and her husband. They are good people and wanted this baby more than anything. Right know all I feel is rage to know they had to come home empty handed.
I think one of you made a wonderful point- Why is it that the competent midwifes protect these others? It just makes the whole home birthing scenio look bad. Surely a competent midwife would have recognized all the danger signs. I have some experience with L&D, but I am no expert. Even I knew that they were taking too many risks. I Thank God that Margarita is physically ok. I only wish there was a way to ease their pain. I know if what happened to them can help change the future for others,they would be able to know that their sons life had purpose and he did not die in vain. I for one, would sleep better at night! Thank-you all again.
Renee, I would really like to pursue the inaction of the police. It is just not ok that they didn’t follow through on that welfare check. Could you contact me through Heather, the admin here? She has my email address.
Why is it alright to use my first and last name and be dishonest about my history? Using a clients first name is done in every waiting room in every clinic. You are free to tell any version of your birth stories. That is sacred ground. It is also fine to accurately report the history of a midwife. I liked the links you posted because it reminded me of a hard time, in which friends, family members and clients gave me sustained support. Those articles aren’t damming. The doctors from Paynesville were my favorite, supportive back up doctors. All that is cool. What isn’t OK, TM, is to be dishonest and say that I had malpractice or deaths in Minnesota and was forced to leave. I left my practice to my assistant. It continues to thrive to this day. Be honest and accurate.
While first names are used in waiting rooms, they aren’t given with details of what the patient is having done. What a ludicrous argument. Your accusations that people are lying about you are just far-fetched. What motivation could a patient have to tell lies about a bad experience? What do they gain from this? You have a much greater motivation to lie, however, to protect your precious career. I’m much more inclined to believe the people who have the least motivation to be dishonest.
Have you heard of HIPAA? It applies to healthcare providers, with regard to their patients. Not to patients with regard to their providers. You might want to look into what HIPAA is like, about 9 pm yesterday, but since you probably don’t have a time machine, now would be the next best time to start figuring out HIPAA and exactly how professional ethics work.
I don’t know how many deaths you had in Minnesota, if any. If you go back and read my original comment, I was talking about the two babies who died while I was receiving care at Alma, THAT YOU TOLD ME ABOUT. 2006 and 2008. I won’t go into specifics here online about how those babies died, though you told me details, because doing so could very well be a further violation of those women’s privacy. I’m sure you don’t think either one was your fault, or you think that they don’t “count” since they happened after you transferred to the hospital. But it’s still pretty awful for someone attending to “low risk” women to have that many losses in that span of time. Pretty suspect.
Or did you lie about those deaths? Are you sick enough that you actually made up stories about babies dying in your Alma practice just to SCARE me? There’s that possibility too. But I know what you said and there are witnesses so don’t even TRY to lie about it.
And you are STILL referring to me by initials. What is wrong with you? This isn’t a waiting room or a lobby. This is the WORLD WIDE web. Calling my name out here is more akin to taking out ad space on a billboard by the freeway than saying my name in your office. You are violating federal law, shamelessly. What other laws might you think don’t apply to you because you just don’t feel like obeying them? I can’t say I’m surprised because I found out ALL about your lack of professionalism when you chose to verbally abuse and dump me at 28 weeks into my second pregnancy rather than either address my concerns about my first birth or transfer my care to another professional like even the village idiot midwife would even know you’re supposed to do.
You know you have a case against her. See what you can do to pursue it. Anyone who holds themselves out as health care professionals yet breaches patient confidentiality so egregiously needs to have consequences.
Lady I’m horrified you claim to be a midwife! You are a nasty, vindictive person who is completely ignorant of the laws you should adhere too! I’m so glad we are able to share information about you in our communities to protect ourselves and others!
Actually, Ms. Erickson, even using names in a waiting room is a violation of HIPAA. Last I heard it was around $53,000 per occurrence. Sounds like you’d be in for quite a chunk of cash.
Thanks for this post. I wish everyone was aware of this information, and it is shocking that MWs can get away with such negligence.
Love, love, love. I can’t love this enough. Great, great article.
I believe these comments are a perfect example of how hard it is for a lay person to tell who is going to be competent. For example, you might think that a midwife with the lowest transport rates (not emergency transports) would be better. However from my years of experience with home birth midwives in Eugene, Oregon, there is a reluctance to transport to the hospital when things don’t look quite right. In fact, a midwife who does transport as soon as she thinks it’s a good idea, may get backlash for doing so from some other midwives. Home births are safe because moms are given lots of one on one care, so the possibility of problems are identified before they become emergencies.
A couple of suggestions: Ask an experienced nurse midwife in the area. It is frequently impossible for nurse midwives to do home births, even if they want to – but they may be able to recommend a couple of providers. Or if you can find a Labor and Delivery nurse who isn’t negative about home births and lay midwives, they may be able to suggest one or two midwives for you to check out. Be careful about relying on what you hear. A lay person may believe that her care was perfect when in fact it was dangerous.
One of the problems with malpractice insurance coverage for home births is that it is so expensive that it has forced many nurse midwives out of the home birth practice.
[...] On February 16, several families who have been hurt by homebirth and their supporters came together in protest at the Oregon statehouse. What were they protesting? Oregon lay midwives who were holding a rally at the same time. Yes, Oregon homebirth midwives are beginning to worry that their free reign in Oregon may be coming to an end. People are starting to realize that it’s ridiculous that you need a license and training to paint someone’s fingernails in this state but not to decl…. [...]
As a mom to a baby who almost died due to negligent care during a home birth in Texas this year, I applaud this.
This is what HAS to happen in EVERY state where midwifery is legal if we want to keep mothers and babies safe while also protecting the right to have a home birth.