Gaye Demanuele and Melody Bourne were wh Carole Lovell when she livered her send dghter a birthg pool January 2012
Contents:
- GAYE DEMANUELE AND THE POLICS OF HOMEBIRTH
- DPP MT PROSECUTE MIDWIFE GAYE DEMANUELE FOR THE ATH OF MY DGHTER, CAROLE LOVELL.DPP MT PROSECUTE MIDWIFE GAYE DEMANUELE FOR THE ATH OF MY DGHTER, CAROLE LOVELL.
- HOMEBIRTH ATH OF CAROLE LOVELL: CORONER REMENDS CHARG AGAST MIDWIFE GAYE DEMANUELE
GAYE DEMANUELE AND THE POLICS OF HOMEBIRTH
* gaye demanuele *
WARNING: This story ntas graphic ntent that rears may fd pots:Prosecutors are ttg the evince agast midwiv Gaye Demanuele and Melody BourneThe Melbourne Magistrat' Court heard Carole Lovell staed tears and started bleedg durg the homebirthMs Bourne's barrister, Robert Richter QC, told the urt that his client and her -acced vigoroly ny that they were negligentGaye Demanuele, 60, and Melody Bourne, 44, appeared the Melbourne Magistrat' Court, where they were acced of the negligent manslghter of Carole Lovell, who died hospal after givg birth at home 2012.
The midwiv at the birth, Gaye Demanuele, 60, and Melody Bourne, 44, are charged wh manslghter and are acced of negligently failg to provi aquate re to the mum. On March 24 Coroner Peter Whe remend the Director of Public Prosecutns exame whether crimal charg should be laid agast Gaye Demanuele followg the tragic ath of Carole Lovell after she gave birth to her send child at home wh Gaye and another midwife. Gaye has mataed all along that she followed procre.
DPP MT PROSECUTE MIDWIFE GAYE DEMANUELE FOR THE ATH OF MY DGHTER, CAROLE LOVELL.DPP MT PROSECUTE MIDWIFE GAYE DEMANUELE FOR THE ATH OF MY DGHTER, CAROLE LOVELL.
Gaye Demanuele. From the var ritur the news media, one would assume that Gaye was a villa, wilfully obstctg the re of a dyg woman – allowg her to “bleed out” liberately. Anecdote is not evince, but let me say this to unter the hyperbole: this is not the Gaye I know who red for me at home durg a post-partum bleed wh great skill and empathy.
This is not the Gaye whom I lled and asked for advice about my third pregnancy and who gave me an hour of her time to listen and offer different possibili (cludg givg birth a hospal); nor the Gaye I protted wh support of women’s birth rights; nor the Gaye who has served a large muny of Melbourne women who have cid to birth at home spe an stutnalised culture of opposn and hostily. This article is not about asssg the facts of the se, however, which has been referred to the Director of Public Prosecutns, nor is about Gaye Demanuele as a person who is loved and rpected by many; rather, is an examatn of the wir ntext of homebirth polics – specifilly, the liberate stctn of pennt midwifery Atralia over the last and a half. This is the polil ntext agast which Gaye’s se needs to be unrstood.
Now this legislatn and s regulatory aftermath is relevant Gaye Demanuele’s se bee she was polilly opposed to the guil. It has been prented the mastream media that Gaye registered herself to avoid culpabily and, ed, to keep practicg agast the law bee apparently she is “dangero” and hell bent on breakg the l. In fact, Gaye’s registratn was a prott agast the new regulatns and the creasg straight-jacket they placed on midwiv and, by associatn, on women.
HOMEBIRTH ATH OF CAROLE LOVELL: CORONER REMENDS CHARG AGAST MIDWIFE GAYE DEMANUELE
Inpennt midwiv are themselv a far more prer posn should they support a woman who starts wh or velops risk factors; they face the prospect, like Gaye, of fancial, reer, and reputatnal . In realy, as Gaye and many other midwiv have found, to quote Michelle Mears, “[r]egistered midwiv who support women wh risk factors to give birth at home are equently reported and this has created a climate of fear and persecutn.
There is no level playg field between the two posns; no sense which acced and maligned midwiv like Gaye (and many, many others), are able to prent their se wh clary and equanimy. Midwiv like Gaye (once was) want to support all women who want a homebirth, perhaps pecially those who have been intified by Dahlen as “refuge” of the system – that is women who have suffered obstetric vlence, also known as ‘birth rape’ – the mastream medil system and want a homebirth both to heal that trma and experience a normal birth. After Gaye Demanuele.
In the wake of Gaye Demanuele’s se, new regulatns are beg discsed to “crack down” on pennt midwiv – a small, urageo and creasgly vilified group of women who believe that women have a right to make birth choic and that as midwiv they are there to support those choic, not make them. As I said at the outset, this is the polil ntext of Gaye Demanuele’s se.