On one occasion she was guilty of the crime of felony child endangerment. She recognized meconium aspiration during the birth, suctioned the baby’s nose and mouth and called paramedics. But when they arrived she refused to relinquish control so the mother and baby could be transported as quickly as possible.   CALIFORNIA COURT OF APPEAL, 1999.

  The California Court of Appeal upheld the conviction for unlicensed practice of medicine of a person operating a home birthing service without being certified as a nurse midwife or licensed as a lay midwife. In California, according to the court, this falls under the rubric of unlicensed medical practice, as that state has no specific crime of unlicensed practice of midwifery on its books.

  On top of that she was convicted of felony child endangerment. That conviction stemmed from how she rendered home birthing services. The court did not base the charge of child endangerment on the fact she was not certified or licensed, but on her practices that on least one occasion were so incompetent as to amount to criminal negligence.

   She administered pitocin, without a physician’s order, and without any particular training in the use of that substance in childbirth. She gave the mother an IM injection in her hip. The court accepted expert medical testimony that pitocin is only to be given highly diluted in an IV saline drip. Too intense labor contractions can rupture the uterus, or limit blood flow to the uterus or placenta, compromising oxygenation of the fetus.

  When the mother’s spontaneous contractions caused the baby’s head to emerge, the shoulder and arm got stuck and meconium was seen. She freed the shoulder, delivered the baby, suctioned the nose and mouth, did CPR to start respirations, and called paramedics.

  Her crime was that when the paramedics arrived she placed the newborn in jeopardy by refusing to relinquish control to the paramedics. She got in a position to keep them from the mother and baby, she insisted they wait a few minutes for the situation to resolve, and she did not tell the paramedics she had had to do CPR.

   The court heard testimony from a midwife/expert witness that when meconium is present in a home birth the professional standard of care is to call the physician and paramedics at once and see that the mother and baby are transported to the hospital as soon as possible.

  She assisted another mother with a home vaginal birth after cesarean. The uterus ruptured and the child was stillborn. She pulled too hard and broke another’s umbilical cord trying to deliver the placenta, then reached in with an ungloved hand for the placenta and the mother got an infection. She advised another to use herbs for high pre-natal blood pressure rather than see a physician. But no direct harm to children could be proved from her actions, and she was not prosecuted for endangerment of these children. People v. Odam, 82 Cal. Rptr. 2d 184 (Cal. App., 1999).