Midwives need to wake up to the fact that if they are going to claim to "independent practitioners", they need to act like them. Giving birth can be a dangerous process. They MUST be competent in basic medical procedures and must know when to call for help. If she were a doctor, they'd want her head

Paddy, Barking, UK

I still maintain the fact that homebirth should be attended to by two midwives of mix skills and a maternity care assistance. the profession has to be well staffed and there is lack of preparation and risk assessment of the home environment prior to homebirth,not all homes are suitabable for birth

Abi Johnson, Romford, United Kingdom

Why are midwives permitted to attend home deliveries if they can't carry out essential procedures in an emergency? It's just inexcusable that the midwife knew perfectly well how serious this woman's condition was yet did not communicate the facts to the hospital staff who could have saved her life.

Amanda, Ipswich, Suffolk

How very sad for this family and baby, my sympathies are with them.

I note the woman died six hours after birth, five hours after she arrived in hospital. Home birth is not the issue here, clear communications and continuity of care would have saved this woman's life.

Georgina, Brighton,

This Midwife did not have a crisis of confidence but made appropriate, professional actions by recognising her limitations and delegating to those most skilled in cannulation. This may also happen in a hospital environment where deaths from haemorrhage have also occured.

Julia Brown, Leeds,

This has nothing to do with homebirth and everything to do with overworked, undertrained & unconfident medical professionals who could have attended Miss Whale in hospital with the same outcome. The place of birth is irrelevant here & highlights the corroner's ignorance and mistrust in natural birth

Sarah, Saffron Walden, UK

Of course home-birth is more dangerous. It's a myth propagated by midwives that it is as safe or safer. There are lots of indications in apparently routine labour when emergency surgery is indicated immediately. Of course the mother and baby are much more at risk if there is an hours delay.

Oliver Halliwell, Calgary, Canada

Home delivery - that's fine for pizza.

Obstetric emergency - in a hospital please.

The problem is, we cannot predict which deliveries will be normal and those that go pear-shaped. But if things do go awry, being on a dedicated labour ward with nearby neonatal unit makes all the difference

Thomas Shanahan, Melbourne, Australia, Australia

I have yet to come across an experienced midwife who cannot cannulate. You have to be competent in cannulation and this competency must be signed by a supervisor. It highlights the need for back up help to be called in good time - cannulating a collapsed person is difficult - timing was the issue.

Lou Westwood, Gloucestershire, UK

To those who have answered my original post directly, I suggest you read it again more carefully. I criticised the coroner for suggesting women should be warned of the dangers of home birth, not the suggestion that skills were lacking. This is not a home birth issue, it is a training issue.

Elizabeth, Hampshire,

Joanne and her family were assured that two experienced midwives would be attending her home birth..??? Inverted Uterus should nt of happened... !!! Uterine Inversion=Mismanagement...!! Although Joanne died several hours later in hospital, the cause was still down to uterine inversion!!

emma willis, ipswich,

mrs whale gave bith 2 a healthy baby girl not a boy..

cathy, ipswich, suffolk

I find it interesting that the times is editing this comments section by ignoring most of those that are pointing out that home births are statistically just as safe as hospital births - both have their own set of possible complications. The midwives who attended me at home were fantastic.

Alison, Milton Keynes,

Have the midifery managers read this? In some areas, community midives, including those attanding home births, are NOT ALLOWED to carry IV fluids or cannulas in order to put up drips. Such a simple thing could have saved this mother.

Angela , stoke,

Midwives are not undertrained! Inserting a canula can be difficult in collapsed women!Women should be warned of the dangers of HOSPITAL BIRTH! I am very saddened by this womans death but think that blaming this midwife and then the idea of homebirth is wholly inappropriate.

Jan Powell, London, uk

Elizabeth and Eleanor-this was an incompetent, undertrained and overconfident midwife whose appalling management of this poor woman led directly to her death. All the damage was done in that first hour, 'the golden hour' . A drip is a simple procedure and could have saved her life, whalesong won't.

Christina, Belfast,

Rachel in Bristol - Which 'clear and unequivocal' evidence are you speaking of? As someone who had a carefully researched and planned homebirth a year ago I am aware of no such evidence. In fact all of the evidence I found pointed to the exact opposite.

Amber, Swansea,

E Bluefish is probably an undertrained midwife. There is a culture of mifwives vs doctors. Time is important in development of DIC - once it has set in it is difficult to reverse - even fab doctors cannot replace god in the presence of overconfident, undertrained midwives.

Ashish Sukthankar, Manchester, UK

Home births don't kill: complications kill. This comes down to lack of training & communication between the health professionals.

Women & their babies are still as safe if not safer giving birth at home IF their care givers are properly trained & experienced., which in most cases is how it is.

Lynn , Evesham, UK

To Elizabeth and Eleanor- have you never heard of the "golden hour"? The first hour after major trauma is the one in which lives are lost or saved: after that the "fab doctors" are working against the damage already done. The midwife was responsible for this death- that's it.

Emile, Weybridge, UK

I expect that the vociferous home birth proselytisers will say that more deaths in labour occur in hospital....true, but only when everything that can be done, has been done. Not when people stand by and watch a mother die because they don't know how to put up a drip.

Emile de Sousa, Weybridge, UK

I have experienced a hospital birth and a homebirth - and I am currently pregnant and planning a homebirth again. I have no doubt that is was poor training for the midwives involved and a complete lack of communication at the hospital that caused the death of Joanna Whale.

Heather , Flitwick,

Every doctor, nurse, or midwife is taught that the key to saving a sick patient's life is ABC (airway, breathing, circulation). A midwife who cannot replace circulation by giving fluids should not be operating. Early fluids could have saved her. This is why home births kill.

Rebecca, Cheltenham,

Dear Ian, If you do another search, a more recent, up to date one, you will realise your findings are incorrect. Home is every bit as safe if not safer than hospital. As Elizabeth points out, the woman died 5 hours after being in hospital, plenty of time for the 'fab' doctors to do their stuff.

eleanor bluefish, newbury, uk

Elizabeth in Hampshire is clearly unaware of the clear and unequivocal evidence that home births are less safe than hospital births.
In this woman's case the midwife was negligent. The mother shouldn't have been in a place the paramedics couldn't get to, and she should have had fluids.

Rachel, Bristol,

This woman died 6 hours after giving birth and 5 hours after arriving in hospital. Poor communication, transfer delay and lack of skills were the contributing factors and these are the issues that should be addressed. The coroner's comments about home birth safety tantamount to scaremongering.

Elizabeth, Hampshire,

"Dr Peter Dean, the Greater Suffolk Coroner, said that lessons must be learnt from her death and that women should be made more aware of the dangers of home births"

Right, so the powers that be want to use this as publicity against home births... Why not instead against under-qualified midwives?!

Brijit , Paris, France

How could this happen it shows a severe flaw in training of staff and their competence. Training today is all about ticking boxes of competence while down playing the importance of experience. I believe this will become the greatest undoing of medical training in the UK.

Samuel Nwaomu, Stoke-ontrent, United Kingdom

I did a small survey called HOME -v- HOSPITAL when I was a student nurse in the 1990's about the needs of mothers undergoing home -v- hospital birth environments.

Chice wise I came to the conclusion that it was good to have choice. Safety wise I concluded hospital had & always will have the edge.

Ian Payne, WALSALL,