Angela Hock was charged with negligent child abuse resulting in death, a felony, after she attempted to deliver a breech baby at a woman’s home in Omaha on June 15.
A Nebraska woman was arrested after a birth she oversaw as a midwife ended with the death of the baby, officials said.
Angela Hock was charged with negligent child abuse resulting in death, a felony, after she attempted to deliver a breech baby at a woman’s home in Omaha on June 15, court documents obtained by ABC News said.
The mother, Emily Noe, was still in labor and Hock was holding the partially delivered baby girl when medics arrived at Noe’s home, police said.
The baby’s bottom half was delivered first, according to medics, who said Hock asked them for medical scissors when they arrived.
Hock then allegedly performed an “obstetrical procedure of the peritoneum,” a membrane in the abdominal cavity, to see if she could deliver the head of the baby, but the procedure did not help the situation, the court affidavit reportedly said.
She was "deprived of oxygen for approximately 10 to 12 minutes during the time that Hock attempted this delivery without medical assistance," doctors said, according to incident report.
Squad personnel went on to deliver the full baby while they transported Noe, 25, to an emergency room, but by then, the baby was limp, had no pulse and was not breathing.
“Resuscitation efforts were performed at that time,” the affidavit said. “The baby was taken to the Newborn Intensive Care Unit upon arrival at the hospital and placed on life support.”
The newborn, a baby girl named Vera, was removed from life support two days later, according to the affidavit.
Doctors said Noe told them she had been in labor for 24 hours and realized the baby was breech several hours before medics arrived. She said Hock, whom she paid between $3,000 and $4,000 for her services, told her she had been trained in delivering breech babies, but after at least 30 minutes of attempting to deliver the child, Hock told Noe to call 911, ABC News reported.
Hock does not hold a medical certification or license in the state to be a practicing midwife, the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services told police.
The OB-GYN on-call said the baby’s death was preventable, had she received timely and appropriate medical care.
“The medical steps taken by Hock were performed negligently,” the affidavit said.
Hock turned herself in on Tuesday and is awaiting a court appearance, authorities said. If convicted of the charge she faces, Hock could face as many as 20 years in prison.
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