A coroner has issued a warning over the dangers of home births after a 34-year-old mum and her newborn baby both died following an at-home delivery last year
A coroner has issued a warning about home births after a mother and her newborn daughter died last year. Jennifer Cahill, 34, died in Manchester on June 3 2024 after giving birth to her daughter, Agnes Lily Wren Cahill, at home.
The mum-of-two died in North Manchester General Hospital, and her baby died a few days later at the same hospital. Ms Cahill had chosen a home birth after developing complications during her first delivery, including a post-partum haemorrhage.
The inquest, which concluded last month, found that the mum died as a result of complications from the delivery, while her daughter died as a result of complications during birth.
Joanne Kearsley, senior coroner for the district of Manchester North, concluded that Cahill had “not made an informed decision to have a home birth” and that if the relevant information had been given to her “it is more likely than not she would have given birth in an alternative setting”. This could have meant that both the mum and her baby would have survived.
The events were also contributed to by “neglect”, the coroner found. Ms Kearsley issued a prevention of future deaths report, in which she warned that there is a risk that more women could die unless action is taken.
She said that there is “no national guidance in respect of home births” and no national guidance on staffing, training and experience for midwives providing this type of care.
The report also stated: “There is an increase in the number of women with ‘high-risk pregnancies’ requesting home births where required interventions cannot take place or would be significantly delayed, and there is no robust framework for midwives supporting home birth care.
“There is no national guidance to support consistent practice across the country including, for example, details of clinical scenarios where women, following robust assessment, have been considered too high risk to safely receive care in a home-setting.”
The report warned that the risk of death is not discussed with women and the lack of guidance has led to “differing models of care”.
