Just about everyone involved in the episode of midwife bullying that I detailed last week has weighed in.
In an open letter to the chair of the forthcoming maternity review, I wrote:
I observed a group of midwives that has become a sisterhood of deadly enablers, ignoring deaths of their patients, incapable of tolerating criticism or even listening to it, patrolling social media to keep obstetricians and loss parents in line, and cheering each other on by encouraging outright dismissal of any criticism.
And:
In the 100+ tweets that passed back and forth over the course of the day yesterday, I did not see even a single one from a midwife acknowledging the appalling litany of maternal and perinatal deaths at the hands of UK midwives. The same dangerous midwifery culture that leads to praise of homebirth after 3 C-section also leads to shirking any responsibility in maternity deaths, and the privileging of process over outcome that the obstetrics professor, the loss father, and I are working hard to confront.
The obstetrician shared his thoughts on Sunday:
I’m afraid I kept my head down – accusations of unprofessionalism, especially when copied to the RCOG make me nervous; I’m still in clinical practice and have had run-ins with them before – and when something goes viral it is difficult to avoid digging a bigger hole…
The loss father weighed in yesterday:
What has really surprised me though, is observing that even the mere act of copying Tuteur into a tweet led to a respected professor of obstetrics being accused of being ‘very unprofessional’ and the veiled threat of copying in the RCOG. For me, this crosses a line. As users of social media we have an absolute right to choose who we engage with and to block/ignore or mute those we wish. However, I don’t think it’s right that any person or group of people should decide that someone is so unacceptable to them, that they monitor who else engages with them and make very serious and public accusations about the professional conduct of anyone who does.
I do think that this is a form of bullying…
In contrast, Sheena Byrom held a pity party for herself and invited others to pity and support her (The dark side of social media):
But for those who continue to intimidate, harass and bully individuals and professional groups, and to undermine evidenced based models of maternity care, I have one message.
I have wobbled, but your actions have made me stronger.
Wait, what? Sheena Byrom barged into a twitter conversation that had NOTHING to do with her, bullied and threatened an obstetrics professor AND a loss father, and when called out for it, whines that SHE was bullied.
She received many tweets and emails from other midwives in support of her position. In support of her position? The one where she attempted to police whom others could communicate with on social media? I kid you not.
That typifies so much of what is wrong with UK midwifery culture: the inability of midwifery leaders and prominent midwives to acknowledge mistakes, the refusal to take responsibility for their own actions, the rush to blame everyone else, and most especially, a culture of relentless bullying that is not merely accepted as normal, but treated as a right with which no one should interfere.
My intention in writing about this incident so extensively was to shine a bright light on a pattern of action by a prominent group of UK midwives: bullying, contemptuous dismissal of infant loss, shirking of responsibility, refusal to acknowledge that obsession with normal birth leads to preventable deaths, and a relentless culture of closing ranks to ignore, dismiss and hide midwifery negligence.
A group of prominent midwives and midwifery leaders helped me achieve far more than I could have hoped, and I have a message for them:
I will not stay silent so that you can stay comfortable. The stakes — the lives and health of mothers and babies — are too high for me to walk away.
