Evelyn Muhlhan - another homebirth midwife bites the dust?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It seems like the fault (according to the courts) was the fault of the hospital, not the midwife. Am I correct?

The parents sued the hospital because Muhlhan didn't have insurance, so there was no money to be gotten there. According to the other thread, the jury was not allowed to hear details about what happened before the parents arrived at the hospital (laboring at home for hours with the intention of delivering at home).

[Anonymous]

And the hospital had the mother wait for 2 hours before giving her the c-section
It would have been a totally different outcome if the hospital had been able to give her the medical care she needed when she arrived

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:And the hospital had the mother wait for 2 hours before giving her the c-section
It would have been a totally different outcome if the hospital had been able to give her the medical care she needed when she arrived

How do you know? You don't. So quit talking out of your ass.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And the hospital had the mother wait for 2 hours before giving her the c-section
It would have been a totally different outcome if the hospital had been able to give her the medical care she needed when she arrived

How do you know? You don't. So quit talking out of your ass.

I believe everyone on the board is talking out of their ass because they don't know. Settle down.

[Anonymous]

Incorrect. The NMW was not a defendant in the case since she did not have insurance. The plaintiff did not name her since they couldnt get any $ out of her and JHH was the deep pocket. All parties to the law suit acknowledged the malpractice of the NMW. The issue was did JH do anything worng when they recieved the patient in distress.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Bullshit. Every time something goes wrong with a homebirth you hear about it. Things go wrong in hospitals (often because of problems with care) and it almost NEVER makes the news.

I wish people would stop sounding off and making it sound like a homebirth is courting disaster. A well trained, experienced midwife knows exactly when to transfer and what to do in case of the unexpected. She is LESS likely to have problems than an OB for a multitude of reasons. You need to understand that many problems are caused by interventions in the hospital.

In 30 years my midwife has had exactly two emergency transfers to the hospital and both of them were appropriate and resulted in the optimum care for the mother and baby (and no problems, in case that wasn't clear). However, I know that she also transfers patients to the hospital or to another provider routinely, because they are no longer low risk or, if during labor, for failure to progress -- a non emergency issue.

A homebirth is not appropriate for everyone but Ipersonally am much more afraid of the hospital and unnecessary interventions than I am of being at home. By using a midwife I have taken steps to minimize the inherent risks of childbirth.

Really? The homebirth went wrong, the hospital inherited mom and baby, now they are deemed responsible, it looks to me like they did make the news.

[Anonymous]

Can anyone update on why it took 2 hrs for the bloodwork at JH?

[Anonymous]

It took 2 hours due to the fact that intake had to occur and pre-op testing had to be completed (which was dealyed when the Mom was non-cooperative and ripped out her IV). The fetus was monitored during this time and there were no signs of fetal distress that would have warranted a quicker c-section. The experts who reviewed the case indicated that the damage had been done during the 20 hours of home labor. The post birth blood gases did not indicate metabolic acidosis at the time of birth, which would have been indicative of HIE. Bottom line: the damage had been done prior to arrival at JHH and the jury blew it.

[Anonymous]

Evelyn was fully supportive of both my partner and my best friend there in the room with me (while the hospital was NOT cool with anyone but the father), doing Reiki and energy work while I dealt with contractions (hospital staff is asking "what's the deal with all the pretty rocks you guys have?").

She understood our wishes for as little intervention as possible, but advised us that we needed several medical interventions to save both my own life, and our daughter's. She even made the suggestion (GASP!) that to avoid a C-section, I should strongly consider some kind of pain management. I'm glad I took her advice- I pushed out a feisty little 4lb 9oz baby in less than seven minutes.

Evelyn helped me balance my desires with what was best for a healthy mommy and baby. When I was uncomfortable with how the hospital staff bullied me, Evelyn kindly stood up for me.

During the month baby was in the hospital, hospital staff discouraged breastfeeding on demand for NICU babies. Lorrie Leigh (one of the other midwives at ABC) came to the rescue. As a mother of a NICU graduate herself, she came to the hospital twice to give me practical as well as spiritual support, out of the goodness of her heart, on her own time. Without Lorrie's help and encouragement early on, I'd likely not have stuck it out with nursing my daughter.

I highly doubt I'd have EVER received that kind of encouragement and support at any standard OBGYN facility.

While I'm not fully aware of the facts surrounding Evelyn's suspended license, I can at least offer my personal experience with "What about a preemie?"

In addition, my daughter ended up with lead poisoning, and it was Evelyn who made sure we received the EPA lead paint pamphlets that our landlord never provided as required by federal law. Evelyn was the FIRST medical professional to make the suggestion that in a healthy, active 20-something living in a pre- Civil War home, lead paint could very likely have contributed to her preterm birth. Had it not been for Evelyn, our daughter would have been exposed to lead for far longer, and the complications to my daughter's health would have been far worse. One of the other fabulous women at the office, Wendy, gave us all sorts of links, brochures, legal advice hotlines, etc about lead exposure before our blood work left the office.

If anyone from Evelyn's office stumbles upon this, you know who I am, and I'd love for you to get in touch with me or my partner about any numbers I can call or letters I can write saying that Evelyn SAVED MY LIFE.

Hi there, I just wanted to post that while I did provide support in NICU and breastfeeding to this client (waving hi! I remember you fondly) and did work in the midwife's office...I am not a midwife, yet! I was and am a doula and birth assistant. My partner Laura Marks and I do take doula clients and I do birth assist with a different a home birth CNM in Maryland sometimes as well. I am a second year student nurse, Certified Nurse Assistant, and plan to continue my schooling to be a Certified Nurse Midwife in the future. I can't speak about the clients or any of the thread above regarding the ABC practice, but she is one of the best, kindest, most intuitive midwives I have ever worked with and I learned a tremendous amount during my short time with her office. And after 14 years doing this work I have seen a lot of midwives in action.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is not really about Evelyn, it's about reproductive rights, including where a woman has a right to give birth.

Yes, and I am absolutely horrified at those charges, because they show that medical professionals are willing to attack home birth merely because women are choosing something different than what they recommend - especially when what THEY recommend is often not even evidence-based. I honestly don't see where Evelyn did anything WRONG; in each of those cases things were going poorly and she appropriately transferred to the hospital, and in most cases mom and baby turned out fine. Again, the doctor decides he doesn't like the protocols of the midwife, gets pissed when she (rightly) transfers to a hospital, complains and then he gets to make her stop practicing, strip her of her license, and take her livelihood away. You could take each and every one of these situations that were stated, and explain why it is still a reasonable option for a woman to choose homebirth. Medical professionals should not have the right to dictate where we give birth, even if we are obese, or might have a large baby, or have a prior c/s, or have a breech baby. This is absolutely a political fight. Doctors/hospitals HATE homebirth and think they should have the right to dictate to all of us how we give birth. They completely remove the individual woman from the equation, when in fact we are the ones that should be able to make these choices for ourselves.

Women and babies die in our hospitals every day in this country giving birth, yet there are no reports flaunting the errors (or just bad luck) of the physicians attending those births. Why in God's name should THEY have the right to flaunt the errors (or just bad luck) of midwife attended homebirths?

The babies in this case paid the price for their mother's fanaticism.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is not really about Evelyn, it's about reproductive rights, including where a woman has a right to give birth.

This is a difficult question. One of the charges against her comes from a VBAC at home that resulted in rupture and infant death.

Should a woman be allowed to attempt a VBAC at home? I don't know. There is another party involved, a term baby.

I'm sorry, but no, it's not a difficult question. You don't get to make decisions about my body in the interest of my baby.

You should not be having children if you put your feminist beliefs before the welfare of your baby.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It took 2 hours due to the fact that intake had to occur and pre-op testing had to be completed (which was dealyed when the Mom was non-cooperative and ripped out her IV). The fetus was monitored during this time and there were no signs of fetal distress that would have warranted a quicker c-section. The experts who reviewed the case indicated that the damage had been done during the 20 hours of home labor. The post birth blood gases did not indicate metabolic acidosis at the time of birth, which would have been indicative of HIE. Bottom line: the damage had been done prior to arrival at JHH and the jury blew it.

Anonymous wrote:It took 2 hours due to the fact that intake had to occur and pre-op testing had to be completed (which was dealyed when the Mom was non-cooperative and ripped out her IV). The fetus was monitored during this time and there were no signs of fetal distress that would have warranted a quicker c-section. The experts who reviewed the case indicated that the damage had been done during the 20 hours of home labor. The post birth blood gases did not indicate metabolic acidosis at the time of birth, which would have been indicative of HIE. Bottom line: the damage had been done prior to arrival at JHH and the jury blew it.

Update on this case, spotted on another thread:
http://www.mcall.com/bs-hs-midwife-suit-decision-20130710-story.html

The Maryland Court of Special appeals ruled that yes, the jury blew it, but because of the judge's ruling about what information could be shared with the jury regarding the midwife's negligence.