Midwife made wrong call to move woman who died during birth, inquest hears

A midwife has told an inquest she made the wrong call when deciding to move a 33-year-old woman who had just had a seizure and subsequently died during birth.

Maria Hiune Pirihira Neho was 39-weeks pregnant when she and her baby died during birth in February 2023.

An inquest into the deaths started on Wednesday and will hear from those involved in Neho's labour, from her midwife, who has name suppression, as well as from responding St John staff, Waikato Hospital staff, and experts.

The midwife told Coroner Ian Telford in Hamilton on the inquest's second day the woman had a seizure during labour at home and collapsed. She explained there was limited space so she decided to move Neho before doing an assessment

"It confuses me that there was no assessment of her breathing, airway and circulation for a very long time," Telford said. The midwife accepted her priority had been incorrect.

Telford also asked the midwife about her ability to access the medical documents of patients. She said the software she used to keep track of patient notes and information did not interface with general health records.

At the time, she said midwives had to physically go into Waikato Hospital to access people's records.

The midwife told the inquest on Wednesday that she knew Neho had a history of seizures and had previously been on anti-seizure medication, but not of an epilepsy diagnosis.

She admitted with the benefit of hindsight, she wished she had looked further into Neho's history and recommended a hospital birth.

Neho arrested after the seizure and CPR began after she was transferred to the ambulance. Attempts were made to stabilise her over the next hour before she was transferred to Waikato Hospital.

There, the baby was delivered by emergency caesarean and both mother and baby were declared dead.

Pathologist Dr Duncan Lamont told the coroner Neho died from her uterus rupturing during labour, which was unexpected and catastrophic.