Midwife and homebirth advocate charged over SA infant deaths
A South Australian home birth advocate and midwife charged with two counts of manslaughter following the death of two infants has been bailed.
In what is believed to be an Australian first Lisa Barrett, 50, was charged on Tuesday after a lengthy investigation by Major Crime detectives into the deaths in October 2011 and December 2012.
The woman from Petwood in the Adelaide Hills, has been refused police bail and will appear in the Adelaide Magistrates Court on Tuesday.
Lisa Barrett. Source: Supplied
In what could send shockwaves through Australia's homebirth industry, the arrest and charges follow an investigation by a major crimes taskforce launched in 2014 to examine the deaths of five infants.
In 2012 the South Australian deputy coroner investigated one of deaths as part of a wider inquiry into three deaths during homebirths.
He found the babies could all have lived if they had been delivered in hospital.
Police investigated five infants deaths. Source: homebirth.com.au
In recent weeks the Director of Public Prosecutions Adam Kimber, SC, told police he believed there was reasonable evidence to pursue a conviction for two of the deaths, The Advertiser reports.
The charges relate to the death of Tully Kavanagh in October 2011, and an unnamed baby boy who died during a homebirth procedure in December 2012, the newspaper reports.
Newsbreak – June 20
