Homebirth decisions defended
A former "birth advocate" who promoted her services under the slogan "A Midwife Mutiny" told a Perth court yesterday there was no indication that being in hospital would have made any difference in the resuscitation of a twin baby who died during a home delivery.
Lisa Barrett was directed by Coroner Sarah Linton to answer questions at the hearing after her lawyer told the court he had advised his client against doing so.
Ms Barrett, who was involved in three homebirth- related fatalities in South Australia between 2007 and 2011 and has been investigated by a coroner, had deregistered herself from working as a midwife at the time of assisting the delivery of the twins in June 2011.
One of the babies was born healthy, but the second was delivered without a heartbeat.
Ms Barrett, who gave evidence by video link from Adelaide, said she had been contacted by the baby's mother after the woman got information from her website on homebirths.
She told the Coroner's Court, which is holding a joint hearing into the deaths of three babies after and during homebirths, that she was the primary carer during the delivery of the twins.
But Ms Barrett said she had made it clear she was not a registered midwife and was using her experience and qualifications to fulfil the role of a "birth advocate".
She said she had given little thought to the "A Midwife Mutiny" title on her website, which she was no longer updating since she had stopped working in the field in any capacity.
But she had not removed the website from the internet because she said it still provided women with information about their choices.
Ms Barrett said she had chosen to deregister herself because the culture of midwifery was changing in a way that was limiting women's birthing options.
She denied her decision had been to allow her to work without the scrutiny of the board that manages the midwifery sector.
The mother of the twin babies, whose identity is suppressed, contacted Ms Barrett after she was denied the publicly funded homebirth service and could not find an independent midwife in WA.
"We did the best resuscitation that we could in the circumstances," Ms Barrett told the inquest.
"There is no way to ascertain that it would have been done any differently at the beginning in hospital."
In 2012, Deputy SA Coroner Anthony Shapel concluded the three babies' deaths in that State would have been avoided if they were born in hospital by emergency caesarean.
