Baby dies after being 'deprived of oxygen for 12 minutes' in botched home birth by unlicensed midwife in Nebraska
A woman in Nebraska has been charged with negligent child abuse after a baby she tried to deliver died. The 36-year-old woman, Angela Hock attempted to deliver a child after claiming that she was a midwife, in spite of being unlicensed and having no medical certificate. If she is convicted, Hock could face up to 20 years in prison.
In the incident that occurred on June 15, paramedics were called into the home at 48th and Spaulding street where 25-year-old Emily Noe was trying to give birth.
When they arrived, what they saw was the mother in the bathroom with Hock, the police said.
The newborn was being delivered upside down instead of head first.
KETV reported that, according to the court documents, there was also a second woman assisting with the birth as well in the bathroom.
Hock is said to have performed a medical procedure in front of them trying to deliver the child.
The police report said that the baby was then taken to Nebraska Medicine and was delivered on the way by a medic but the baby had had no "respirations or pulse", the affidavit said.
The doctors said that the baby was "deprived of oxygen for approximately 10 to 12 minutes during the time that Hock attempted this delivery without medical assistance."
Because of the absence of oxygen, the newborn's brain had swollen up, becoming life-threatening. The doctors at the hospital also added that the death was "preventable had appropriate medical care been provided in a timely manner."
Hock had arrived nine hours after her water broke on June 14, the pregnant woman said. She added that she had known about the baby's breech position, where the bay is delivered bottom first for a few hours and had been pushing. The child, named Vera, who was on life support was put off it on June 17, police say.
Hock is reportedly a "natural undisturbed home birth advocate" and offered midwife services through a website she owned called Nebraska Birth Keeper.
The about section on the website says that she is a "birth professional" who believes "that we were created to birth without invention and that women possess the God-given wisdom and intuition to birth their babies free from regulation. I also believe in women making truly informed choices about their births."
Certified Nurse Midwives said that she doesn't have the "training to actually be called a midwife. CNM's Amanda Lura said, "We would work really hard to get that baby to turn prior to labor or we would call in a physician in that instance."
Emily's husband, Crayton Noe penned a heartbreaking note on Facebook about the incident and said, "It hurts so much to know that Vera looked exactly like her mom. Emily is everything I could ever ask for, everything I could ever want in a marriage, everything and more that I couldn't even begin to explain with words how much she means to me."
Beadle also says that Hock was aware of the Nebraska state statute that bans home birth.
'It's pretty clear that she was aware of that, too, based on some other evidence that we have.'
Hock turned herself in on Tuesday and was booked into Douglas County Jail.