Whats the Story with Alternative Birth Choices and Evelyn?

[BenimBebek]

A friend of mine was supposed to deliver with them and then Evelyn just told her that she is being sued and may not be able to deliver her baby.  My friend said that Evelyn was welcoming letters of support for her Oct. 25 court date.  The story given to my friend was that a woman had transferred post-birth with bleeding, baby and mom were fine, but the hospital or some government party was suing her.

What on earth is going on over there?!  Does anyone know?

Feel free to PM me!

Edited by BenimBebek - 10/19/11 at 3:08pm

[IdentityCrisisMama]

Oh, my.  Midwifery going through the ringer in MD.  I feel badly for everyone in our community!  What's going on!?!

[KatyLinda]

All I know is my appointment for last week was canceled because of an emergency, and they would call me to reschedule.  I'm quite honestly freaking out....

[zoe77]

I am right there with you Katy!!  OP, Please PM me if you find anything out.  I had heard the first half of your story but hadn't heard of anything unethical going on.  I would like to know if there is though because before this all happened I was going to start prenatal care with Evelyn and was very much looking forward to a homebirth covered by my insurance.

[mamainjune]

Oh my gosh I am so glad I found this thread! I lurk a lot here on MDC so when my appointment with Evelyn was cancelled with no explanation I started looking to see if anyone knew what was going on.

When I Googled her name this came up...

http://209.60.234.65/mdbon_weblookup/publicinfo.asp?rb_name=ON&rb_facility=&l_person_id=156704&l_profession_id=1&l_license_id=217290&ssn=&l_home_state=20&Last_Name=MUH%25&First_Name=&License_number=&Facility_Name=&DBA_Name=

What could that mean for all of us? I am so devastated that my homebirth dreams might not come true. Please PM me if you have any information.

[midwifemom3]

I have not been posting much lately however I am getting an influx of calls today from clients lookig for a midwife who state both Joey and Evelyn dropped them, or do not have licenses....Both term patients....hadnt heard anything about Joey, any ideas would be helpful.

[KatyLinda]

Jennifer I'll PM you what I know.  

[BenimBebek]

I think that the unethical thing must have been practicing with a suspended license.  I havent heard anything more from my friend.  But Im very concerned for the state of midwifery in Maryland.  WE NEED THEM!  I dont think I would ever deliver in a hospital again after having one in the hospital and one at home.  

[BenimBebek]

will you pm me too!

[KatyLinda]

All I know is what I've read here, so if you saw the long Joey Pascarella thread that was pulled, you know what I know.    I'm assuming Evelyn's license was suspended because of the investigation.  I just wish I knew where she stood and what the reality is so I know what decisions I need to make regarding my own care.  

[BenimBebek]

I didnt see it.  I havent been on here in months :(

[KatyLinda]

PMed you. 

[lizsky]

I'd also like to know the backstory about the Evelyn situation.   I was just talking about Evelyn with a friend who is considering her options and I didn't realize that there were legal issues.  If someone gets info they can copy and paste into a PM that would be great.  

[mamainjune]

If I could get a PM I would appreciate it. I didn't know there was an issue with Evelyn and Joey.

I have been stressed all day about what is going on and what I should do. Thanks.

[KatyLinda]

I'd love more info on Evelyn.  Anyone with info please PM me.  

[Awaken]

Oh NO!  I am so sad.  I hope somehow this is all a misunderstanding.

[bignerpie]

Could I get in the loop on this? I was going to refer someone to Evelyn...

[BenimBebek]

this is all starting to feel like a big attack on homebirth midwives to me.  

you know what bugs me is that MDs cause the unnecessary deaths and injuries of so many babies with their premature inductions and interventions and its considered collateral damage.  They "did everything they could"... yeah and the "everything" is what caused all the problems in the first place.  And dont get me started on the harm they do to women!  

And then you have midwives... if they make even one mis-step, everyone turns on them.  One baby lost = end of their career.  People think there is some text book that says "if this happens then do this..."  there may be a text book but it isnt always right.  The midwife has to make decision based on the best of her knowledge and abilities.  Shes human.  And you can ALWAYS find a doctor whose opinion will contradict a midwives.

I don't know what happened with Evelyn but Im extremely suspicious of this whole thing, especially given that pretty much ALL our midwives are suddenly under attack.  They may not run the tightest ship over there. But I suspect the incredibly strong anti-homebirth sentiment in this state may have something to do with it.

Mortality stats (for moms and babies) should be public and the practitioners NAME was next to it.  I bet Evelyn's is lower than any MD.

I just cant picture this being a real case of Evelyn being negligent or something.  She was very careful and concerned at my last birth.  A lot went wrong at my birth and she handled each problem calmly and accurately.

Its hard, even for moms who have had homebirths, to really trust the process.  We have been raised being told doctors know best.  I found myself second guessing the whole way.  And if something went wrong, I would have probably gone to an MD for a second opinion and then tried to blame my midwife for the problem.  People grieving often need someone to blame.  I don't know if something like this happened, but certainly things like this happen all over the homebirth unfriendly country.

This whole reminds me of... did anyone read Baby Catcher?

[midwifemom3]

I am a midwife and I dont see this as an attack on Homebirth. I have referred my own clients to home birth midwives. When you practice out of hospital you do have to be more careful. I feel there is a duty to the mom the baby and the rest of us midwives to protect our calling. Home birth is safe for low risk women and whatever is going on in the lives of the the midwives involved shouldnt be public knowlege, however there is a duty to her current patients to have a plan in place for their care and they should be notified. If my doors were locked tomorrow there is a plan in place to notify clients, get there records to them, and refer them to a practioner. Noone should feel that they are swinging in the breeze. The board of Nursing meets October 25th so there should be a public record following the meeting. I initially came to this thread because of the influx of calls from patients in need if a provider, and it bothers me that women at term are struggling. It isnt fair to the pregnant moms to be dealing with this when they should be preparing for birth, and they should be entering into birth with a provider they trust and have developed a relationship with. I hope this is resolved soon, and the mommas out there get the birth they are looking for safely.

[BenimBebek]

No, you're right.  I just worry we will lose homebirth completely in MD just because of technicalities, renewing licenses, etc.  I feel like I was willing to put up with the more, uh, laid back "organizational style" of the homebirth MW because I really didn't want to risk having my baby in a hospital.

Plus its hard to say have a back up CNM to cover all your clients, when there are like 3 in MD... We need more.  If more were around, then maybe they wouldnt a) be so overwhelmed with so many clients, and b) have better back up options in place.

Its so hard.  Like, do we put up with people who forget to renew their license or make you wait for ungodly long time for appointments... or do we go to the hospital to have our baby?  Or use a CPM, even though its not legal in MD? 

But I did hear Evelyn has a back up MW.

I also 100% agree that all these things need to be publicly discussed.  Thats why I posted it here.  I dont like this weird code of silence.  Its dangerous.  Because moms and babies deserve to have all the information when choosing a care provider.  I think we need way more transparency in MD for midwives and MD's alike.