Midwife banned for two years after baby dies following home birth

A Queensland midwife who failed to give adequate care to a mother during a home birth after which she later lost her baby, and gave false notes to the coroner, has been banned for two years.

The infant was diagnosed with brain damage due to lack of oxygen and died on January 13. File picture

A Queensland midwife who failed to give adequate care to a mother during a home birth who later lost her baby, and gave false notes to the coroner, has been banned for two years.

In his decision handed down on June 6, Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal judicial member Ray Rinaudo ruled that midwife Rosemary Blyth should be reprimanded after she admitted three disciplinary charges.

Ms Blyth, who worked as a director and practising midwife at My Own Midwife GC at Ashmore on the Gold Coast at the time, conceded that she failed to provide adequate antenatal care to the mum between January 4 and January 9, 2018.

She also admitted she failed to provide intrapartum care to the mum on the night of 9-10 January 2018, and that she knowingly and dishonestly altered and/or fabricated parts of the mum’s labour progression notes or was complicit in the dishonest alteration and/or fabrication of the records, and knowingly provided false information to the state coroner.

Ms Blyth surrendered her registration in November 2021, two months after the deputy state coroner handed down her findings in the death of the baby at the Gold Coast University Hospital on January 13, 2018.

Three days earlier Ms Blyth and another midwife assisted with the labour and delivery of the baby born at 40 weeks in a home birth.

The child was born unresponsive with the cord around her neck and she had Apgar scores of zero at one, five and 10 minutes.

Ms Blyth and the other midwife commenced CPR with cylinder oxygen and a Neopuff ventilator and called triple-0.

Queensland Ambulance Service paramedics attended, intubated and ventilated the baby and took her to the Gold Coast University Hospital where she was admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit.

Gold Coast University Hospital. Picture: NCA NewsWire/ Richard Gosling

She was diagnosed with brain damage due to lack of oxygen and died on January 13.

Ms Blyth told the tribunal that in hindsight she should have refused to help with the home birth when the hospital recommended a hospital birth.

She told the tribunal she was trying to support the mother’s wishes who did not want a hospital birth.

Ms Blyth acknowledged this amounted to a failure to provide antenatal care to the standard expected.

She also admitted she made poor choices she would not usually make.

Ms Blyth told the tribunal she blamed her actions on “panic” and they were not consistent with her long unblemished history as a midwife, or her usual ethics and good character.

She was sorry about the death of the baby which had “deeply impacted her”, and she had stopped practising as a midwife, despite her love of helping deliver babies.

She argued her reputation had been tarnished and she had lost earnings after the baby died and the coronial investigation.

In her defence Ms Blyth argued the mother refused to attend the hospital when she was told to go before the birth, in October 2017 and January 4, 2018.

When the mum did go to hospital on January 7 she still declined a hospital birth after the doctor recommended she be induced as she was experiencing reduced movements and was an older mother with an increased risk of stillbirth.

Ms Blyth explained to the mother that just because her cardiotocography and scan were normal these did not predict what might happen in the future.

Originally published as Midwife banned for two years after baby dies following home birth