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Powered by LifeTypeSpeaking of news, I forgot to post here that the closing arguments for Judy's trial are scheduled for tomorrow, and I'll be heading to Pittsburgh to hang out with folks who will be there in her support. Of course, this might be the first time a scheduled meeting actually happened when it was supposed to (or did it already get postponed once? It's hard to keep it straight) so I wouldn't be too surprised if Lisa is on vacation and forgot to tell anyone.
As I understand it, tomorrow's events should be pretty straightforward, with each attorney getting to talk however they like and then the judge goes away for a week to ponder the incredulity of it all and come back and rule on the three charges (there are three charges, either because the district attorney agrees with Stephan about lists, or in the hopes of getting one to stick).
And of course, Jonathan hasn't graduated from college yet, so it probably won't really end, though I understand that in this case, the prosecution can't appeal, so it is up to Judy whether she would want to continue to drag this out forever if he finds her guilty on any of the charges. After seven years, she might just be tired of it all, though I suppose it probably partly depends on the findings, and ramifications for other women in the US (or at least Pennsylvania, though in this case, the judge explicitly asked Judy's attorney to find him cases from other states) who want to employ a midwife.
We'll be praying. Nice thought, by the way, that this one might be the first to happen on time -- but it's too late for that. I believe this was supposed to happen a month ago....
Ah, well -- all delays will be forgiven if we get a good, solid, ringing endorsement of freedom for parents and midwives. :)
Surprise, surprise - something went wrong, and the hearing didn't take place. I got there late, so missed out on the waiting around, and I didn't quite understand what Judy said - something about a prosecutor for an earlier case with Judge Machen wasn't prepared, and so it went longer than expected, so there wasn't time for Judy's stuff.
So, things have been rescheduled until next Tuesday, same time, same place, etc.
Much earlier than expected, the prosecutor has asked for a delay for something in her family. No date set yet.
To the Daleys: Congratulations on (all) your beautiful children, and on Judy's acquittal. I am an aspiring midwife and have been reading about Judy's case. (There is quite a discussion at allnurses.com about the case. Sources differ on what the autopsy said was the actual cause of Isaac's death - some say that it was due to improper handling by the midwife, and some say that the coroner found that the death was unrelated to Judy's handling of the birth. What did the report actually say?
The medical examiner who performed the autopsy hates midwives, and believes that they shouldn't exist anywhere. He might allow them to exist in really, really rural areas where there isn't any other option, and assumes that most babies and mothers would die in those cases. So, you can take his "findings" for what they are worth.
He said that he could tell from his analysis of Isaac that a midwife was involved, that it wasn't just us at home, there wasn't a doctor, etc. it had to be a midwife. I am not quite sure how he could determine that.
He completely ignored the marks and injuries sustained at the hospital, all injuries that he found except for one (a small mark on the back of Isaac's head) line up exactly to locations where there was tape to hold various sensors, injections, etc. He seemed to forget that Isaac was in a hospital for a couple days, and so showed in great detail the injuries from the shots and implied that they were due to our midwife's care. It was really odd.
Lack of oxygen is the cause of death as best as I know. I think the place on the death certificate where the medical examiner says "caused by a midwife", he means that if we had been in a hospital, it would have been an automatic c-section, so in that way, the death was "caused" by a midwife, in that any decisions we may or may not have made would have been overruled by a doctor had we been in a hospital.
The medical examiner thought the best course of action for the midwife once the breech was found was to leave the house immediately. That is the only action he thought reasonable. We are glad that our midwife doesn't agree with the medical examiner, as I can't think of a worse course of action, under any circumstances.
And Amber - (I'm getting on a plane so can't respond on the other site yet), your comments there look good at a quick read. And the person who talks about the way to "trick" people into forcing them to do what they want by taking their kids away by police action is abhorrent. And the doctor who told me that if we had gone to him with Isaac rather than a midwife (he also thought nurse midwives were suspect - had various stories about CNMs at McGee hospital "killing" babies) we would have been guaranteed to not have any problems with Isaac or Heather. I asked in complete disbelief how he could possibly state that, and he just insisted everything would have been fine, 100% guarantee. Needless to say, we left the office as quick as we could.