The closing submissions in an inquest into the death of a woman who gave birth at home with no support from medically trained health workers have been delayed, after new evidence came to light following a forensic analysis of her mobile phone.
Details of the Case
Stacey Warnecke, a 30-year-old nutritionist, died on 29 September in Frankston hospital in Melbourne. Warnecke, a wellness influencer, had paid birthkeeper Emily Lal $6,000 to support her to give birth at home without any medically trained staff involved, in what is sometimes called a “freebirth”. Birthkeepers have no medical training and operate outside of the medical system.
Events Leading to Death
The court heard Warnecke suffered a massive postpartum haemorrhage after she delivered the placenta, with an ambulance called approximately half an hour after the bleed was first noticed. Warnecke told Lal and her husband, Nathan, that she was short of breath and needed to lie down after the bleed.
Birthkeeper's Testimony
In her evidence on Tuesday, Lal told the inquest that although she had been paid to support Warnecke, her role was primarily that of a supportive friend, that she was not clinically trained, and that it was not her responsibility to make Warnecke’s birth safer, or to call an ambulance unless specifically asked. She said she never gave Warnecke medical advice, and only shared her own experiences of freebirthing her own children.
Lal also told the inquest that she no longer had access to texts Warnecke sent to her alerting her that she had gone into labour on 26 September, or any texts after that. “I got a new phone and lost everything,” Lal told the court. Counsel assisting the coroner, Rachel Ellyard, asked Lal when she lost her phone, with Lal replying, “October or November, I can’t remember”. Lal added that she then mainly texted Warnecke’s husband, Nathan, before going to their home to support the birth.
Legal Protection
Lal gave evidence on the condition that the coroner granted her protection against her answers being used against her in future civil or criminal proceedings.
New Evidence Discovery
The inquest had been due to close on Friday. On Thursday afternoon, Ellyard told the coroner that the contents of a forensic analysis of Warnecke’s phone had been made available to the court. “It seems to me that the contents that have been made available raise issues that are going to require some further investigation and perhaps the gathering of further evidence,” Ellyard said.
As a result, the court was adjourned to a date yet to be determined. Addressing Warnecke’s family members, who were listening to the inquest online, coroner Therese McCarthy said “sometimes investigations… take a different course because new information comes to hand”. “I take the view that this material is of such significance that the court must delay making any findings and hearing submissions until we’ve had an opportunity to undertake a proper analysis of that material, and potentially call for more evidence.”
Expert Medical Testimony
Earlier on Thursday, expert medical witnesses Dr Mark Tarrant, an obstetrician and gynaecologist, and Dr Catherine Adams, a midwife, gave evidence that they believed Warnecke’s condition was treatable had either a midwife been present at the home birth, or had Warnecke given birth at a hospital. Adams said that postpartum haemorrhage is common enough that it is always in midwives’ minds as a possibility, and that they are always assessing factors throughout pregnancy and labour that might increase that risk, so that they are ready to quickly intervene. She said quick intervention makes the condition treatable.
A midwife would have had treatments ready in case of such a complication, she said. “We recognise once it starts, it can be quite catastrophic,” she said. Adams said she believed within half an hour of the haemorrhage occurring and with no treatment administered, medical staff subsequently treating Warnecke had “lost the opportunity to control the situation”.
