GOVERNMENT INACTION LEAD TO STATE INJUSTICE AGAINST MIDWIVES

Formally started in January, 1998, when the Parliamentary Human Rights Ombudsman Dr. Peter Polt affirmed that the Hungarian Constitution upheld the right of mothers to homebirth. The government was then expected to introduce first-time legislation to include the necessary home birth medical services which parents would require.

This 13 year absence of government regulations meant:

Parents were forced to chose a homebirth alone without medical support or forego their constitutional rights and have their babies in hospital.

Independent Midwives were forced to either act legally and abandon parents to the risks of bringing their babies into the world at home alone, or act illegally (unlicensed) but morally by supporting parents in their constitutional right.

The absence of government regulations also meant :

1.   Individual independent midwives were prevented from receiving a licence to work in the homebirth area, which, in turn, prevented them from offering their professional services legally to parents.

2.   Non-hospital midwives groups could not receive official recognition as Independent Midwifery Professionals within the Hungarian Medical System, nor enjoy the normal structures/protections that other officially recognised profession (like doctors and hospital midwives) received.

3.   Independent Midwives were uniquely exposed to extended and aggressive treatment by the State Police and Prosecution Services. This was particularly acute around homebirth incidences, as both these State Services applied laws and procedures that had not been altered to give proper legal effect to the 1998 Ombudsman decision.

What remains indisputable is that Agnes’s birth actions as either a doctor or midwife, have always been carried out ethically, professionally and with the sole and explicit intention of doing only what was in the best interest of the mother and baby. Her involvement with the criminal code system could have been avoided if modern effective homebirth legislation had been introduced to ensure that any midwife involved in an adverse birth incident would have had the matter first reviewed by a professional committee of their peers. This would have been in line with how Hungarian hospital maternity doctors and all doctors and midwives in developed countries are treated. Only in the most extreme circumstances, would a birth fatality warrant referral to the criminal courts.

Because successive governments failed to do this Independent Midwives have always been forced to work outside of the hospital system. Consequently, when birth incidents arise, they are left completely exposed and defenceless to a set of actions by the State Police and Prosecution Services, which is markedly different to that experienced by Hungarian hospital doctors.

The current Government’s viewpoint that these cases of homebirth incidences are properly before the Criminal Courts is clearly flawed. Also, their claim that Dr Gereb would receive a fair trial is highly improbable given that she has already faced the following practical obstacles when before the Courts:

• No Hungarian midwife is deemed eligible to be on the Judicial Medical Expert List and so none can testify to the Court on the matter of Dr Gereb’s birth actions.

• All the medical experts testifying in this case are Hungarian maternity doctors, drawn from the hospital professional group, who have an officially and publically stated position that homebirth is dangerous.

• All the medical experts who testified had no direct professional experience of delivering under homebirth conditions.

• All medical experts called were hospital doctors who referred exclusively to hospital practices and procedures when assessing the correctness of Dr. Gereb’s actions, despite the birth being in a home setting.

• The trial judge declined the defence request for independent international experts to personally appear in court to present their opinion on Dr. Gereb’s birth actions.

• The trial judge ruled that only the written opinion of the international experts could be presented to the court but that it would not have an equal standing to the opinion of the listed Hungarian Hospital Medical Experts.

• The judge stated that he would not be influenced by the fact that these birth case incidents occurred in the home setting.

Governments continued policy of inaction was eventually challenged by the ECHR ruling of December, 2010 in the Ternovsky case.

The Hungarian Government responded by introducing a conservative and narrow set of regulations to govern home birth from 1^st June, 2011.  These regulations make it very difficult for many of the Independent Midwives to qualify for a licence and make it equally difficult for many mothers to meet the criteria to avail of a home birth. Also, they omitted any structural changes to the midwifery profession or to the system of investigating birth incidences which could have lessened midwives future exposure to the criminal code system.

It appears the current government either doesn’t accept or remains unaware of its obligations to address the injustices caused to the midwives by the State. It will be the job of the Campaign team to engage with the Government to encourage them towards finding remedies to this situation and to persuade them of their central role in any solution. Eventually, remedial action should be the introduction of revised legislation to allow Independent Midwives equal treatment with Hungarian hospital doctors in the matter of birth incidences.

For further information please contact Donal Kerry  at  Ez az e-mail-cím a szpemrobotok elleni védelem alatt áll. Megtekintéséhez engedélyeznie kell a JavaScript használatát.