The utter contempt with which homebirth midwives greet attempts to hold them accountable for homebirth deaths and disasters is truly amazing. Consider Melissa Cheyney and company enshrining into Oregon law the ability to practice homebirth midwifery without regulation of any kind including a license, Amy Medwin in North Carolina soliciting funds from her midwifery colleagues to pay the fines stemming from her felony guilty plea, or Lisa Barrett who is so contemptuous of the law as to tweet from the courtroom during her Coroner’s Inquest. But for sheer nerve, you can’t beat the midwives who been stripped of their licenses and continue practicing homebirth midwifery.
Case in point: Kaleem Joy (aka Jody Lyn Robinson, aka Jody Lyn Brecke) of One Heart Midwifery in Citrus Heights, California.
Kaleem/Jody is cool as you please in advertising her illegal midwifery practice on her own professionally designed website.
Midwifery for me is a joy. To enlighten woman to their power and strength and to support them in giving birth to their babies safely and satisfyingly at home… It is especially important to me that babies be respected and honored in their ability to be born and celebrated. I am there to watch over safety, this I know. But I expect the best and the best happens. We use medical equipment when needed. I use my tools of the trade i.e.: homeopathy, herbs, cranial sacral therapy, awakening a woman to the truth about birth and it’s power and purpose, nutrition, education and my optimisms. Trust is really the key.
Kaleem/Jody boasts about her midwifery license and RN, as well as her myriad of “degrees” in quackery:
… Very simply I have been a pediatric RN, Licensed midwife, and am now a Certified Professional Midwife, Massage Therapist specializing in Cranial Sacral Therapy of newborns, infants and pregnant woman. I have a Certificate degree in homeopathy that I graduated with honors and have self studied herbs for over 20 years.
In her CV, she boldly proclaims:
RN 1983-2005 …
Licensed Midwife of State of California 1997– 2003 …
She does not mention that the midwifery license, and subsequently the RN, were stripped from her for gross negligence:
… [O]n and between January 10, 2000 and January 12, 2000, Respondent committed acts constituting gross negligence for patient M.I.’s labor and delivery … Respondent admitted the truth of the charge … resulting in the surrender of her Midwife Certificate No. LM-63.
Subsequently Kaleem/Joy’s RN was revoked. The revocation was initially stayed, pending satisfactory completion of a 3 year probation. She failed to meet the probation requirements and was stripped of her RN.
The loss of her midwifery license means that Kaleem/Joy is no longer entitled to practice midwifery in Califoria, but that hasn’t stopped her from attending births and publicly advertising her services. And the best part? Kaleem/Joy teaches midwifery students.
The midwifery students are practicing on roasts using sutures and instruments with sterile fields and yes even head lamps. We cut a hole out to simulate a yoni and asked them to do interrupted, basting, and figure 8s. The week before we did knot tying with instruments and yarn…
… Sisterhood among students and midwives and among the midwifery community as a whole, is the heart of the midwifery.
Homebirth midwives like Kaleem/Jody should be prosecuted for practicing midwifery without a license. It is nothing short of appalling that a homebirth midwife commits gross negligence, loses license and continues practicing homebirth midwifery and publicly advertising that illegal practice.
