B.C. parents sue woman with history of illegal midwifery over botched home birth
CBC
A self-described Vancouver Island "childbirth activist" prohibited from serving as a midwife is facing a lawsuit from the parents of a child who was allegedly injured during a botched home birth.
Gloria Lemay has been banned for more than two decades from performing midwifery services — but according to a B.C. Supreme Court lawsuit filed this week, the Duncan woman allegedly contracted with a Chemainus couple in 2021 to act as their "midwife or birth attendant."
The couple is now suing Lemay over damages they say their child suffered to his genitalia during 18 hours of labour, before they made the "difficult decision to abandon their home birth and attend the Nanaimo Regional General Hospital for emergency medical attention."
The lawsuit accuses Lemay of "malicious, reckless and high-handed behaviour" — faulting her for allegedly dismissing concerns about the labour, telling the parents a hospital would send them home and "sleeping and snoring loudly for multiple hours of the labour."
According to her website, Lemay claims she has travelled throughout North America and Australia teaching midwifery; the website currently offers "Wise Woman Way of Birth Doula Training" at a cost of $675.
Lemay did not respond to an email from CBC News requesting comment on the lawsuit.
She has a long history of defying court orders related to the illegal practice of midwifery, drawing jail time for contempt of court. She has also come under scrutiny related to the deaths of a newborn and a fetus in her care.
RCMP joined investigators from the B.C. College of Nurses and Midwives last January to search Lemay's home, after the college obtained an order to seize evidence of unauthorized midwifery following reports she may have been acting as a midwife.
The CBC is not naming the parents who brought the lawsuit in order to protect the identity of their son.
Their lawsuit claims Lemay told them "about her exceptional expertise, knowledge and success as a birth attendant," pointing to her "allegedly successful involvement in over 1,500 natural at-home births."
The parents claim Lemay didn't say she wasn't a licensed midwife and neglected to mention either her permanent prohibition from performing midwifery services or the fact she was "previously charged with criminal negligence in relation to the death of a fetus she delivered."
The parents claim they entered into a contract for Lemay's services worth $2,600.
In the months leading up to the birth, she allegedly checked the infant's positioning and heartbeat and made "repeated, false allegations ... about the lack of efficacy and safety of at-hospital births."
The lawsuit claims the mother went into labour at 8 p.m. on Dec. 18, 2021 — spending the next 18 hours under Lemay's oversight.
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