Baby dies during homebirth with no medical help on hand

The death of a baby during a homebirth in Queensland attended by two doulas has increased calls for a government crackdown on the controversial practice. 

Paramedics who attended the Toowoomba home found a shocking scene on Wednesday, where the baby reportedly suffered a cardiac arrest and died.

Queensland Health Minister Shannon Fentiman is working closely with the Coroner who will advise her on recommendations around what is known as freebirthing. 

‘I am very concerned when women choose to do this,’ Ms Fentiman told reporters in Townsville on Friday. ‘This was a freebirth, which means a woman decided to give birth at home without any medical oversight. 

‘Doulas are not registered health practitioners, they can perform no clinical or medical services.’

A doula is a non-medical ‘companion’ who supports a pregnant woman before, during and after childbirth. 

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The coroner is already investigating a similar case, as obstetricians call for a review around ‘the death, disability and harms associated with women having babies without appropriately trained professional care’.

The Health Minister said her message to women is: ‘I know you want choice in where you give birth, but it has to be safe. So please engage the services of a medical practitioner.

‘If women choose to have their baby at home right now, you do need to engage the services of a private midwife or an obstetrician.’

Ms Fentiman said that about 0.6 per cent of births happen at home in Queensland and very few of them are freebirths. 

She said that because women want a choice, the state is about to trial a publicly funded homebirthing program from July 1 on the Sunshine Coast.

It will be offered to women who meet clinical criteria and live within a safe travel distance to the Sunshine Coast University Hospital. 

‘If successful and safe, we hope to roll that out across the state,’ she said.

The doula industry is not regulated and some practitioners charge up to $3,000 per birth.

Ms Fentiman said it’s important that pregnant women understand that under Australian law, doulas are not registered health professionals.

‘Homebirth is very different to freebirth. A homebirth program is where you have medical professionals at home, with women who have been receiving wonderful midwifery care through their pregnancy.

‘A decision to freebirth is what I am most distressed about, and that is where a woman will choose to give birth without any medical help at home, so they are two very different things.’

She added that ‘Safety has to be the priority, and I want all Queensland women to understand that engaging a doula is absolutely their choice, but that the doula is there to support the mother, but not provide any medical or clinical care.’

Gino Pecoraro, president of the National Association of Specialist Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, has called for a review into freebirthing.

‘There must be an appropriate legislative and judicial response. The time to act is now, before anyone else is harmed,’ he told the Courier-Mail.