Mother, 34, and her newborn baby died from ‘Victorian-age’ failures after she opted to have a home birth
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15276295/Warning-coroner-mother-died-newborn-baby-home-birth.html
Posted by Forward-Answer-4407
Mother, 34, and her newborn baby died from ‘Victorian-age’ failures after she opted to have a home birth
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15276295/Warning-coroner-mother-died-newborn-baby-home-birth.html
Posted by Forward-Answer-4407
22 Comments
How much Tik Tok junk had she consumed in order for get to believe a home birth was the way to go?
>Ms Cahill had suffered serious bleeding and needed two transfusions following the traumatic hospital birth of her first child, a son, three years earlier.
I’d nearly commented saying that the intensity and dangers of it all might not be apparent to people who’ve never seen a birth… It seems very strange that she felt confident enough to try a home birth after all that.
The comments that have already begun that “home births are safe” are irrelevant here because that judgement is preceded by a risk assessment which deems the pregnancy low risk. The TikTok comment elsewhere is also unfair.
This woman was mistakenly labelled “low risk” when her obstetric history indicated she was anything but, given a previous severe haemorrhage during her first child’s birth. The article specifically includes expert testimony suggesting that she may not have opted for a home birth had all the risks been properly communicated to her.
She was failed by her obstetric team.
For those interested, here is a BBC article for the story:
**’Gross failings’ in mum and baby’s home birth deaths**
[https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0516207gq2o](https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0516207gq2o)
It annoys me that this has been put down to neglect.
It wasnt neglect. She knew what she wanted and they had to respect her wishes. Its been said she should have been checked more… yes but she refused! She was also told how high risk she was but made the decision to still have a home birth and now the OBGYN team are being blamed for apparently not making this clear enough. She heard what she wanted to hear because she was adamant on a home birth after being traumatised by a hospital one. She had an “intense’ birth plan and even declined observations and medication that would have helped the bleeding. She didnt just decline things during the labour, she did so in the pregnancy. Recommended tests etc.
I’ve spoken about this before but honestly it all scares me. This example I’m going to give is different but it’s how I started losing faith and becoming scared.
had a coroners case where we were blamed because a patient died of something completely preventable… but the patient had refused the treatment. They had capacity and in depth capacity assessments and discussions with risks and benefits had been documented. Multiple attempts. Going against their decision would have been assault. They were sent home because we couldnt treat them.
Family wasn’t happy when they died (understandably). We honoured the person’s wishes though and didn’t assault them. Yet we STILL were wrong according to the coroner.
You will get thrown under the bus. And then the media comes for you and you cant even set the record straight
Home births have always seemed overly risky to me, but my friend recently had one for her first.
It was absolutely fine and of course she was low risk anyway.
I asked her why she wanted a home birth and her answer was –
*You get the full and undivided attention of the midwives assisting you, rather than having them rush off to assist other women during your labour. It’s a much more relaxed environment too.*
I wonder if these are common considerations for women?
No chance I’d risk it – my mum bled out and needed a transfusion when I was born.
Child Birth is already **HARD** why would chose to make it harder and less safe in a country where you have the ability not to?! It’s bit proving a point to anyone
Pointless deaths.
Just to chip in here, I had a home birth with my second and would do so again if I had another baby.
My first was at the hospital and was a low risk pregnancy and fast birth. When I called the hospital for the second one, they put me on hold twice because they were so busy. Everything sounded chaotic and stressful, so we filled up the pool and they came to us. Music on, candles going, my boy was born within 4 hours of contractions starting.
Some primal thing in your brain takes over when giving birth, and every person is different, but I knew at home I was a lot less likely to have any intervention. They are so quick these days to induce people and offer out c-sections.
My son was born in an unintentional home birth. He sort of came out in 2 contractions. Wouldn’t recommend it to anyone.
We are accountable for our own thoughts, feelings, and actions, and the outcomes that result from them.
This is desperately sad but after suffering an extremely difficult birth first time round – it’s difficult to understand why she would opt for a home birth for her second child.
Why anyone would choose a home birth is beyond me. Hospital birth centres are purpose built to accommodate the process of a woman giving birth, your sofa in livingroom is not.
Hospitals have multiple doctors, surgeons and an endless supply of drugs to help a woman throughout the process. A couple of paracetamol out of the kitchen cupboard ain’t gonna do shit
No birth be it or home or not is 100% safe, it’s a huge thing for the body to go through. We need to stop as a society trying to say that pregnancy and labour is this easy thing because it’s not. It does open up a bigger conversation about the huge problems with women’s healthcare in general, it swings from medical gaslighting to allowing dangerous situations arise from trying to please everyone.
I’m stumped by this situation. This woman insisted on having a home birth. Many people are blaming her because she would not listen to advice. However, she didn’t understand the seriousness of the risk and neither did her husband.
What concerns me is that her attitudes against medical intervention/care are not unusual these days. More and more middle-class women believe in total nuttery when it comes to healthcare. I know because I’m surrounded by them.
It’s an impossible situation. They’re arrogant and unaware enough to insist they know best. At the same time, NHS maternity care is a nightmare in many NHS trusts and who can blame women who want to avoid it.
I think midwives and doctors having to tiptoe around mothers in terms of language is a problem – she needed two (?) blood transfusions after her first birth. That’s not “you had a bit of bleeding but don’t worry” it’s “you nearly DIED of blood loss but we could save you because we had appropriate blood right here”. I know it’s imperative not to terrifying pregnant women, obviously, but they were being too euphemistic and the midwives having to flail around in the dark trying to resuscitate a baby because the mother only wanted fairy lights and low voices is just insanity.
The one midwife having never before resuscitated a baby is terrible too, obviously, and inexperienced midwives is another reason you’d want to be in the hospital or birth centre where there are a lot of midwives.
We have had two home births and they were amazing. The two midwives who accompanied us made us feel safe. Not sure why the hate.
Edit: also, there are statistics that show home births are safer than having a baby at hopsital.
Reading the whole story, it sounds like medical processes were not properly followed; and not really anything to do with home birth.
Home births still exist and are offered as an option for low risk pregnancies, where previous pregnancies have been straightforward.
Here, she was led to believe by medical staff that her previous complicated delivery, was not complicated, and that she is low risk. Midwives not having access to data (separate failure) compounded this. They probably did ask the mother how her previous pregnancy was, and she probably replied it was all normal according to a doctor.
I’m not being funny, but if I was a woman giving birth I would want to be in the best possible place with all the highly trained skilled people who know what they are doing and with all the equipment and medical expertise that may be needed to help bring my baby into the world as safely as possible.
It is tragic but I don’t like how this is blaming the hospital or midwives. Patients make their decisions and the midwives described her birthing plan as ‘intense’. I read she refused observations, wanted staff to whisper and work by candlelight. These were her decisions. Very sad and the poor midwives should never be put in that position.
Our baby would not have made it if we were not in the hospital, escaleted from what looked like a normal birth to an emergency in the space of a few minutes.
I have never seen 6 doctors rush into a room like that.
Would never dream of having a home birth.
Home births are mental, get off the Internet, you don’t know more than the midwives.
Being in a familiar, comfortable environment, being at home straight after, no waiting to be told you can go, taxis, journey home etc.
I mean, it’s not rocket science is it, why might someone want to be in their own home while experiencing something very mentally challenging.
She shouldn’t have had a home birth if she had trauma with her first born. she must have ignored all advice.
My SIL had a hospital birth with her 1st born and a home birth with her last 2. i thought it was a terrible idea to home birth (things could go wrong and you’re not in the hospital). my 3rd nephew needed to go to the hospital after his birth but he was fine.