A 42-year-old woman from Neamts County died this week after deciding to give birth at home with the help of a “midwife” she found on Facebook, despite several doctors warning her it was a high-risk pregnancy and recommending a C-section.. Can we talk about the trend of home births in Romania or isolated cases? Is this a legal practice or not? What are the risks? Why is it possible to give birth at home with a midwife in other countries?

We are looking for answers to these questions together with Daniela Stan, a midwife who has seen hundreds of births inGiulești Maternity Hospital from the capital Dr. Nicolae Gicke, obstetrician and director of Filantropia Maternity Hospitalthe largest in Bucharest, and Carmen Mazilu, President of the Order of General Medical Assistants, Midwives and Paramedics from Romania – the equivalent of the college of doctors for the professions of paramedics and midwives.

President of Nurses and Midwives, the equivalent of the College of Physicians, on home midwives: ‘Patients are gambling with their lives and the practice is illegal’

Midwife-assisted home births are an illegal practice in Romania, warns Carmen Mazilu, a nurse and president of the Order of General Medical Assistants, Midwives and Medical Paramedics of Romania – Bucharest branch.

The Order of Nurses and Midwives is practically the equivalent of the College of Physicians for the nursing and midwifery professions.

Carmen Mazilu, nurse and president of the Order of General Medical Assistants, Midwives and Medical Paramedics from Romania – Bucharest Branch

Carmen Mazilu admits that there are midwives who wanted this practice – home birth – to be regulated in Romania, but points out that at the moment home birth is illegal in our country and people who resort to this option risk their lives : “I don’t. I don’t know who makes such announcements on the Internet, but midwives can work only in stationary conditions, that is, in medical institutions or in private offices, if they have permission to do so. They cannot work at home under any circumstances. It’s really a practice that some midwives wanted, but we’ve disproved it and hopefully we’ve convinced them not to do it because it’s an illegal practice.”

The president of the Order of General Medical Paramedics, Midwives and Paramedics also says that pregnant women are monitored by the hospital’s medical team during pregnancy and they are clearly recommended to come to the hospital to give birth: “There is legislation, and during pregnancy a woman is under supervision in the hospital. If people are in the hospital, the medical team is telling you that you have to come to the hospital, and you decide to give birth at home… This is not a practice that should be considered. You are betting your life on the words of someone who provides some illegal services.”

Why is home birth dangerous: “Vaginal bleeding is massive. You can lose a patient in a split second”

In Romania, giving birth at home with the help of a midwife is illegal and involves medical risks that are difficult to predict, which can appear in a split second, even when everything seems to be going well and without risks, Daniela Stan explains to HotNews.ro , a midwife with many years of experience at Panait Sârbu Obstetrics and Gynecology Clinical Hospital (Maternitatea Giulești) in the capital and Vice President of the Order of General Medical Assistants, Midwives and Paramedics from Romania: Bucharest Branch.

“We have no legislation that regulates home births, and we absolutely do not encourage this practice. The reason is simple: we don’t have enough hospitals so that a woman who gives birth at home and has complications can be delivered in time to a specialized medical unit,” says Daniela Stan.

birth / Photo: Motortion | Dreamstime.com

Daniela Stan, a midwife who has seen hundreds or even thousands of births at the Giulesti maternity hospital, says that midwifery is a wonderful specialty, but unfortunately, “from physiological to pathological is only a very small step, it can turn into a fraction of a second , you must have a medical facility as close as possible so that you can get there with the patient, so to speak, at the speed of light to save the life of either the mother or the newborn. It would be good if in public hospitals, in addition to maternity hospitals, we had a delivery room so that a pregnant patient could choose with whom to give birth – with a midwife or with a doctor.”

However, under no circumstances should pregnant women choose to give birth at home, emphasizes midwife Daniela Stan: “No, because we risk our lives. This is actually happening. Birth is usually physiological, but in an extremely short time it can be inevitable. And it is about two lives: a mother and a child. Bleeding can happen when you’re not even thinking, and vaginal bleeding is massive and you can lose a woman in a split second.”

Why can women in other countries give birth at home, but not in Romania

Daniela Sten says that there are indeed countries – such as Holland or Belgium – where women give birth at home with the help of a midwife, but “as soon as the midwife comes to the woman’s home, she already calls an ambulance. And this ambulance is also ready to come to the patient immediately, if necessary. Their hospitals are very close, there are many of them, unfortunately, this is not the case here.”

Midwives in Romania go to university and get the right to help women during childbirth, but they can only help with biological births, explains Daniela Stan. As soon as childbirth becomes pathological and complications arise, midwives immediately see the signs and seek help from a doctor.

In Romania, in some provincial hospitals, births are indeed attended by midwives, without the need for a doctor to be present where there are no complications, but in large university clinics, a doctor is also present most of the time during the birth.

Mother and child / Photo: Ondras Dreamstime.com

Can we talk about birthing fashion with a midwife in Romania?

I asked Daniela Stan if we could talk about the growing trend of home births with a midwife in Romania. Midwife Daniela Stan says that it is more about isolated cases.

In Romania, most pregnant women are compliant, they visit the hospital regularly for pregnancy follow-up and, starting from the first trimester, they look for a good doctor who will follow them throughout the pregnancy and help them during the delivery.

In addition, childbirth in Romania is maximally “medicalized”, the percentage of caesarean sections is very high, says midwife Daniela Stan.

Why do many expectant mothers in Romania prefer caesarean section? “I think it’s happening somewhere behind the current generation that is having children. Because the mothers of these women, their grandmothers, also told them about being born as bau-bau. Childbirth automatically means pain. And women do not think that now we live in different times, that we have the opportunity to do epidural anesthesia for free, we have gas that we can give and significantly reduce the pain during the tram. But once she gets that information, it’s pretty hard to click. And then the vast majority chose childbirth by caesarean section. Indeed, it seems right to me that a woman should be informed and choose the way she feels about giving birth.”

Daniela Stan has been working for many years in one of the biggest maternity hospitals in Bucharest, so I asked her if she had recently had cases in the hospital of patients who wanted to give birth at home with a midwife: “No. I have not heard of such cases in Bucharest. I know it was a trend at one point and there were certain organizations that encouraged it. But we as a professional organization have never encouraged such a practice.”

The head of Philantropia, the largest maternity hospital in Bucharest: “Even I, as an obstetrician, cannot help a woman give birth at home”

Not only midwives, but also obstetricians cannot help a woman give birth at home in Romania for a simple reason – there is no hospital infrastructure, which is mandatory for childbirth to take place in legal and safe conditions, he explains to HotNews .ro Dr. Nicolae Gicke, doctor primary care obstetrician-gynecologist and head of Philanthropy Clinical Hospital, the largest maternity hospital in Bucharest.

“Even I, as an obstetrician, cannot go home to help a woman give birth because there is no hospital infrastructure. But if the patient decides to give birth even by herself at home, there is nothing we can do,” says Nicolae Gicke.

Charity for motherhood, the largest in Bucharest

According to the doctor, patients are free to choose and cannot be forced to be treated in a hospital: “Patients are free to choose. In our hospital, patients are recommended to stay in a hospital, but we do not oblige or oblige anyone. Anyone who wants to leave the hospital can leave at their own risk.”

“Except in the case of psychiatric patients and those who come in unconscious, who cannot choose, otherwise the patients consent to the medical action. Therefore, we cannot force anyone. If he wants to operate or be treated, the patient must give his consent,” the doctor explains.

I asked the manager, Nicolai Gicke, if the maternity hospital where he is a doctor and which he manages had any patients who wanted to give birth at home, and if it was okay to talk about a whim: “I don’t know, let me tell you, I don’t know of a single case.” .

Photo: Dreamstime.com, Agerpres.

Read also:

• A German woman died after deciding to give birth at home and a “midwife” was found on Facebook. The alarm raised by doctors regarding the phenomenon that is gaining momentum in Romania