Midwife in court: death of a newborn after complications!

A tragic case of birth complications brings two midwife cases into the legal spotlight, both pointing to fatal consequences for newborns. In the first case, a midwife is accused of failing to perform necessary procedures during a home birth, which resulted in the death of a girl five days after birth. The trial is scheduled to begin next Monday, and the public prosecutor sees the defendant as responsible because she is said to have violated the regulations of the Midwifery Act. Carrying out a home birth was considered inappropriate, even though health risks were known. The midwife fights vehemently against the allegations. She claimed to have reacted quickly during the birth and alerted emergency services. Her statement is based on the assertion that no previous complications were expected and that even a hospital stay could not have changed the fate of the newborn.

The second case involved the conviction of a midwife who did not arrange for immediate hospitalization during a birth in a hotel despite feared complications. Here there was a stalled birth, which ultimately led to the death of the newborn. The midwife was sentenced to 6 years and 9 months in prison because she misjudged the situation and did not inform the parents accordingly. In this case, too, the accused midwife did not take advantage of the opportunity to carry out a planned cesarean section, even though this would have been possible four hours before the birth. In both cases, failure to take the necessary measures resulted in devastating consequences for the affected newborns, on the one hand through a direct lack of oxygen and on the other hand through serious decisions during the birth process.

Self-confident protagonists and borderline decisions

In the first case, the mother of the deceased girl supports the midwife and says that she is not to blame for her daughter's death. The dispute over the responsibility and ethical decisions of midwives raises fundamental questions about the safety of home births. As an assessment of Haufe.de states that in a similar situation in which she was confronted with risks, the midwife completely trivialized the circumstances of the birth and falsely reassured the parents. In both cases, the courts have sent clear signals that such practices are not only risky but also legally unacceptable. There is a clear message here about the need to put safety first during birth.