Midwives Extremely Disturbed by Breach of Order

Media Statement 27 April 2013

To be attributed to Karen Guilliland, CEO of the New Zealand College of Midwives.

“The NZ College of Midwives is extremely disturbed by a report this morning in the Waikato Times which has breached an interim name suppression order made by the coroner.

Contrary to the order this article has published the name and location of a young midwife whose life has been threatened.

We intend reporting the breach to the coroner for the purpose of charges being laid against the Waikato Times and the reporter, Maryanne Twentyman. We remind other media organisations that this interim suppression order made by the coroner remains in place.

Further to the reporting of this case at Waikato Hospital last year, we and the profession as a whole are concerned at the time this case is taking to be reviewed but until that process is complete the reporting in the media is purely hearsay and not based on facts or evidence. It is therefore ill-informed and most disturbingly feeding a violent and abusive faction focussed on discrediting midwifery and midwives regardless of facts.

This is clearly making women and their families anxious and undermining the midwifery led maternity system with inaccurate opinion and incorrect information.

No charges have been laid in the Waikato case, to date there is no evidence that warrants this sort of witch hunt of health professionals; it is pure speculation being fuelled by uninformed and obsessive lobbyists with a long held agenda to undermine midwives in New Zealand.

Everyone is entitled to natural justice, everyone it would seem except midwives.

This media coverage feeding death threats and abuse against health professionals is unprecedented.

The wellbeing of women and their babies is the focus of what NZCOM and its members do, both as individual midwives and as a professional body. As health professionals specialising in mothers and the health of newborns, we want the best for New Zealand women and their babies, that is our reason for being, that is why we do what we do.

We support the processes and procedures in place when there is an outcome such as the Waikato Hospital case and we ask that the media respect the process and refrain from reporting as though it is fact, before a case has been fully reviewed.”

ENDS

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