A Romanian woman has died after giving birth at home with the help of a midwife she found on Facebook, media reported.
Several doctors had warned the unnamed woman, 42, that she had a high-risk pregnancy and recommended a C-section.
Dr. Mircea Onofriescu of the „Cuza Voda” Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital in Iasi warned that women who give birth at home are exposed themselves to medical risks.
„These home births assisted by midwifes found on the Internet or on social media are putting themselves in extraordinary danger that can end up in tragedy,” he said.
According to Onofriescu the woman was brought to the Neamt County Hospital in northeast Romania in a state of shock and intubated after she gave birth at home assisted by a midwife.
It was the first pregnancy for the woman who had thrombophilia and multiple sclerosis. There was no word on the condition of the baby.
Midwife or nurse-assisted home births are illegal in Romania, although home births are not specifically outlawed.
It is the second death of this kind recorded in Neamt in recent days as a result of women using midwives for a home birth, according to the Neamt County Hospital,.
In a separate case, a 32-year-old woman, who was in her fifth pregnancy, was hospitalized after her husband, a former nurse, and her mother-in-law helped her give birth at home aided by medical instruments they’d bought online, TVR and stirilorprotv.ro reported.
The pair delivered a 4.7-kilogram baby but the woman started hemorrhaging and her husband called for an ambulance.
„She was assisted by two people, so-called nurses. An episiotomy was performed, she had stitches but after this procedure she had a massive hemorrhage”, Onofriescu, who is the president of the Romanian Society of Reproductive Medicine, told Libertatea.
A medical team found the woman at home, with massive bleeding, though conscious. She has been admitted to intensive care.
VIDEO | Hero doctor helps Romanian woman to give birth via WhatsApp
