‘I should have called ambulance earlier,’ unregistered midwife tells Caroline Lovell home-birth death inquest

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Caroline Lovell.

Caroline Lovell

The midwife who helped deliver Caroline Lovell’s baby at her home before Ms Lovell died told the Coroner’s Court on Thursday she is still supporting women in home births on her own and without supervision despite being unregistered.

Gaye Demanuele, who identifies herself as an “(un)midwife” on her Twitter account, told the court on the third day of the inquest into the January 2012 death of Ms Lovell that while she is in attendance to support women during home births, it is the woman herself who delivers the baby.

“She catches her own baby in her own hands,” Ms Demanuele told the court, under cross-examination from Michael Magazanik, who is representing Ms Lovell’s mother.

Ms Demanuele said women feel alienated by the hospital obstetrics system and have a right to choose where and how their baby is born.