Babies born with disabilities: Midwife Yolande Maritz Fouchee maintains innocence in Gauteng High Court

Former Pretoria midwife Yolande Maritz Fouchee maintained her innocence while testifying in the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria in defence of allegations that her actions led to two babies born with disabilities, while one died shortly after birth and another was declared dead at birth.

She is facing 14 charges, including assault and culpable homicide following claims that she did not pay attention to the risk factors of several of her clients at her You&Me birth clinic in Pretoria East. It is also claimed that she allowed her teenage daughter, who may not be named in terms of a court order, to assist her with the births, while the teenager had no training in this regard.

Other charges include that she gave some of her clients a substance known as the abortion medication Cytotec to drink to induce labour - something which was described by an expert as being very dangerous to do under the circumstances.

Several women testified that they were given “water with rescue remedy” to drink, which shortly afterwards led to severe contractions. According to her daughter, who earlier testified for the prosecution, the substance was in fact the abortion remedy.

But Fouchee testified that inducing labour was not a standard practice at her clinic. Cytotec was kept at her clinic, she said, but it was never used in the four cases for which she is standing trial. According to her, the medication is only used in emergency cases, which the four cases she is facing were not.

Asked by the prosecution why her daughter would have testified to the contrary, Fouchee said the daughter was not present at all the births. When she was present, her role was that of a Doula - to assist but not to perform any medical tasks.

She explained that as her daughter appeared eager to learn more about pregnancy, birth and especially the newborn baby, after seeing what the doulas had been doing. “I started giving her solo chores that needed no supervision in the birth room over weekends when she was available, and she helped me to prepare the birth room by filling the birth tub, opening the bed, making clients tea and helping me clean after births".

When the daughter was 14, she started homeschooling and also started showing more interest in the birthing room.

"She requested to see what I did. I allowed her to shadow me during births, with the permission of the birthing couple,” Fouchee said.

During 2015, when she was 15, the daughter witnessed the implementation of a Nurturing Doula Skills Course that Fouchee bought to train interested lay women to become doulas.

By the time she was 16, she completed the Nurturing Doula Course and became an officially certified doula herself, Fouchee said in defence of utilising the services of her teenage daughter at her birth centre.

While a medical expert earlier testified that Fouchee did not pay attention to the high-risk factors presented by some of her clients, she denied this. She explained that with her basic knowledge of doing sonars (obtained during a workshop), she could see that the unborn babies in question were growing inside the womb.

She conceded that she could not diagnose advanced abnormalities. But, according to her, things mostly went according to plan during the births in question. She said she was devastated when one of the babies had died nine days after birth, when the doctors could do nothing more for him and the machines that kept him alive had to be switched off.

She was equally traumatised when another baby was declared dead at birth, she said.

Proceeding.

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