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A Melbourne midwife is being investigated by regulatory authorities after she delivered twins to a surprised mum during a homebirth.

Martina Gorner, from Ten Moons Homebirth Services, was suspended from practicing last Thursday by the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia while the investigation is conducted, a spokesperson for the board told nine.com.au.

A Facebook post about the birth on the Ten Moons Homebirth Services page, which has so far attracted more than 15,000 reactions, wrote that the mother first gave birth to a baby boy on October 19 after which they were expecting the placenta to be delivered.

“Mum gave birth to her sweet little baby boy in water and then we thought the placenta was about to come… but as it turned out, there was another baby boy about to make his entrance into the world,” the post reads.

“What a super hero mum… what an amazing birth!! The twins are identical twins,” the post read.

When questioned about how the mother did not know she was pregnant with twins, the homebirth service replied: “Mum decided not to have any scans during this pregnancy.”

Ms Gorner’s suspension was a technical one, with the midwife agreeing not to practice for one week to give her lawyer time to prepare her case for a hearing about the matter, the petition said.

A spokesperson for the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia said it was not able to comment on the details of Ms Gorner’s case, but wrote in a statement: “Immediate action to suspend a practitioner’s registration is only taken in the most serious cases when the NBMA believes it is necessary to take action to protect the public.”

“NMBA’s role is to keep the public safe and ensure practitioners are meeting the trust the public places in them.

“Before a decision to take immediate action is made, a practitioner is given notice and an opportunity to show cause as to why the action is not necessary.”

It has been reported when mum brought her happy and healthy babies in for a check-up, a hospital staff member made a complaint and Martina was suspended.

Although it is recommended, mothers in Australia are not legally obliged to have ultrasound scans during a pregnancy.

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  • I really dont understand this. If the Mum said she didnt want scans then how is that the responsibility of the midwife. Surely we all need to take responsibility for our own actions.

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  • It was the woman who choose not to have the scans, no fault of the midwife.


    • If the woman chose no scans, then I agree !

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  • Mum decided not to have a scan. Simple – they would have known if had a scan.

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  • Midwife showed up to do her job, and clearly did it well, given that there were two live births. It’s unfair to suspend the midwife. And just out of curiosity, if the woman went into labour on the side of the rd and the midwife stopped to help would she have lost her license then too?

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  • Why cant responsibility be a parents fault. Always a doctor or a widwife. Look at a bigger picture first and get all the relevant info. Hope the midwife can continue to practice.

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  • If the mother didn’t want to have any scans done, how is this the midwife’s fault. Mum’s have had scans but still been surprised by giving birth to another child. Who’s to say that one baby could be behind another during a scan and heartbeats are exactly in tune but louder. God works in mysterious ways. Congratulations on the birth of your twin boys and I hope all goes well for the midwife

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  • What! How is this the midwifes fault because the mother was too negligent to get scans. Take those babies away from her, she probably thinks food is optional too.

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  • What are a pregnant mother’s legal obligations? There are so many things that ‘should’ be done during pregnancy- from not drinking alcohol, to having gynocological scans; from eliminating caffine, to not smoking/doing drugs – I wonder how far the government will regulate? because this sounds like what should have happened here to prevent the surprise of twins…(I’m sure the midwife would have found it easier if she had known) And regulating against other stuff would also ensure healthy babies who aren’t affected by diet, drink, drugs and other stuff.

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  • Did drs never do measurements and listen to heart beats etc ???strange this was not picked up.

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  • This is not the poor midwife’s fault. They should make a law that mother’s must have scans- there are so many things that they can pick up on at the scans that can save lives, not to mention cases like this! I can understand not wanting to know the gender, but wouldn’t you want to know that your baby is healthy?

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  • How is it the midwifes fault that she didn’t know about twins…mum made the decision not to have ultrasound. I would be more concerned that the twins were born at 35 weeks at home. I would have been more concerned about what would have happened had one or both had breathing problems. Thankfully, all is well.

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  • Just happy it all turned out positive,wishing them all the best!

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  • What’s the issue? As in the midwife should have known it was twins?

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  • Holy moley. What a surprise. And a concern at the lack of preparedness. Wow, glad everything turned out okay.

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  • Oh wow what an amazing surprise.

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