One midwife. Three tragic home birth outcomes.
An inquest into the death of mother-of-two and homebirth advocate Caroline Lovell has heard that one of the midwives present at Caroline Lovell’s last birth was involved in births that had other, just as tragic, outcomes – the deaths of two babies.
The three deaths occurred between July 2011 and October 2012
An inquest in Melbourne is wrapping up that has been examining the tragic death of Caroline Lovell. The 36-year old gave birth to her second daughter at her Melbourne home in 2012 attended by midwives Gaye Demanuele and Melody Bourne.
At the time Ms Demanuele was registered. She has since been de-registered.
It is alleged that after her home birth Caroline Lovell told the midwives present that she felt like she was dying but they failed to call an ambulance for more than an hour.
It wasn’t until Ms Lovell allegedly became cold and unresponsive that an ambulance was finally called — but it was too late to save her.
Caroline died later that night in hospital.
It has now been revealed that one of the midwives, Gaye Demanuele, was present at the birth of a baby boy in July 2011 six-months before Mrs Lovell’s death.
For a news story on the tragic death of Caroline Lovell watch this video here. Post continues below.
The mother of the stillborn boy said in a statement one of the midwives, Gaye Demanuele told her later that she was under investigation in relation to Ms Lovell’s homebirth, as well as two other incidents when Ms Demanuele reached out to the mother for her support in a health authority investigation into her conduct in the birth.
Tammy Mills, writing about the inquiry for The Age says: “The revelations raises serious questions about how the midwife was able to attend further home births following the first death in 2011 and how midwives become deregistered and still involve themselves in home births.
Ms Demanuele surrendered her midwifery registration in June 2012 Fairfax Media understands Ms Demanuele did so in disgust with the AHPRA investigation into her.”
An inquest in 2010 into the death a newborn of Janet Frasers during a home birth found that a lack of professional medical care contributed to her death. Post continues below.
The un-named mother of the baby boy born stillborn claimed Ms Demanuele told her hospitals were “patriarchal” and doctors were “more concerned with timing and shifts and schedules than with the mothers” when they were planning her birth.
“Gaye said hospitals placed no value on allowing the mother to have a natural experience,” the woman said.
The woman was overdue with her baby when she finally gave birth in her home having been allowed to carry on for “so far” under the care of Ms Demanuele.
The woman said in her statement that Ms Demanuele repeatedly refused to allow her to go to hospital during the homebirth, despite her feeling increasingly unsafe.
The woman said she felt distressed about having to beg to be taken to hospital during labour and to be met with refusals and lies.
Her husband finally called an ambulance.
When she finally arrived at the Royal Women’s Hospital, doctors had told her baby was dead.
The woman alleged some time later she told Ms Demanuele in an email that she had not properly informed her of the risks of home birth in her situation and that Ms Demanuele had allowed the pregnancy to continue so far post term.
The mother said in her statement it was impossible to not feel personally guilty.
“The feeling I really could not fight off – right from the start- was that it was all my fault. That I should never have had a home birth…that I should never have engaged Gaye,” she said.
“I told her I was most distressed about having to beg to be taken to hospital during labour and to be met with refusals and lies,” she said.
reports that then in March 2012, just two months after Ms Lovell’s death, Ms Demanuele was present at another home birth in western Victoria.
Another home birth that resulted in the death of a baby.
This baby was born with severe brain damage as a result of a lack of oxygen and died seven months later.
Stunningly Gaye Demanuele is still attending births.
Ms Demanuele who identifies herself as an “(un)midwife” on her Twitter account, told the court last year she is still supporting women in home births without supervision despite being unregistered.
She said while she is in attendance it is the woman herself who delivers the baby.
The Age reported last year that Ms Demanuele wrote an article for the Freedom Socialist Party newsletter that argued women’s human rights are being violated “by a system that treats them as incubators … A system that uses ‘the best interest of the child’ as a weapon; that deems women incapable of making ‘good choices’ in order to police them”.
“It is time women claim back their power in childbirth.”
Sadly it seems that there is no power available to stop Ms Demanuele attending births.
The Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia said in a statement to Fairfax Media it has no control over practitioners who are not registered.
“To protect the integrity of investigative processes, we are not able to comment on investigations.”
The inquest has now closed. The Coroner will report his findings later in the year.
For more on home birth:
The stories that never get told: When home births go dangerously wrong.
Warning: this woman should not be allowed to attend births.
Top Comments
Gaye demanule attended my daughters birth in 2011 and did most my antenatal care for my son's birth in 2013.
I found her respectful , knowledgeable , kind and very caring.
Personally my pregnancies were low risk. And had any problem presented themselves during my pregnancies I would have been at the hospital without hesitation to birth my babies.
Gaye really stands with women in her work. She takes on women who really want home births after being traumatized by hospital births in the past. She Informs women of their choices, she makes recommendations (such as advising ms Lowell to take blood tests at 36 weeks) however she respects women who have made an Informed decision regarding their birth choices and health decisions.
In choosing to work with women with higher risk factors such as vbacs there are more risks. Unfortunately with birth some babies are born still in both the hospital and at home. Indeed some babies are born on the way to the hospital.
Ms Lowell was a vocal home birth advocate. By her own admission she had said she would birth unattended if she was unable to have a midwife supported home birth. Gaye stepped up. She supported ms Lowell in her birth choices.
This tragedy is just that: a tragedy. However knowing gaye as a wonderful, caring and diligent midwife I really feel that had she known of Ms lowell's full medical history the outcome would have been very different.
Personally I'd hire gaye again. However my birth plan has always said if I say I want a hospital transfer it means I want a transfer. Where as I know a lot of women state that they want their support ppl to say no to them if they ask to transfer. (Perhaps due to past birth trauma caused by the lack of respect and loss of dignity in the hospital system)
Deaths occur in hospital regularly. Just have a look at the latest figures from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare - Australia's mothers and Babies report. The issue isnt about place of birth here, but negligence . Many more obstetricians are charged with negligence than midwives. Midwives are not prefect, just as doctors are not. But if anything goes wrong in a home birth, you know Mammmia will be all over it like a vultures. In fact, the latest data from the UK shows home births are as safe as hospital births.