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Self-Described “Birth Keeper” Grilled By Court After Wellness Influencer Lost Her Life During Free Birth
A self-described “birth keeper” who was paid to support a mother during childbirth claimed she had “no obligation” to intervene when complications arose.
Emily Lal, who worked as an unregistered doula under the moniker The Authentic Birth Keeper, agreed to provide evidence in court on the condition that it could not be used against her in any future criminal or civil proceedings.
Highlights
- A woman known as “The Authentic Birth Keeper” was questioned over her role in the passing of Stacey Warnecke following an at-home birth.
- Warnecke had paid Lal A$6,000, but the unlicensed doula insisted her services did not include medical assistance.
- Lal told the court she was simply paid to act as a “big sister” and had no obligation to call an ambulance.
Lal was paid A$6,000 (approx. US$4,200) by Stacey Warnecke, an influencer who lost her life at a hospital in Melbourne, Australia, following an at-home birth.
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A “birth keeper” left a court stunned after explaining why she did not seek medical help for a mother who had paid for her services
Image credits: naturalspoonfuls/Instagram
On Tuesday (June 17), the court was played a 12-minute recording of an emergency call made by Warnecke’s partner, Nathan, in which the mother could be heard struggling to breathe.
When the phone was passed to Lal, she told the operator that she was a “friend” of Warnecke.
Lal told the court that it wasn’t her role to call an ambulance for Warnecke or assess whether the mother’s health was in danger.
Image credits: 9 News Australia
“It would really depend on what the mother wanted,” the “birth keeper” said, per news.com.au.
“If she wanted support, I would call an ambulance if that’s what she wanted. I would wait for her to ask for an ambulance. If she said no, then that’s the answer.”
Emily Lal, an unregistered doula, said she had no obligation to assist a mother if complications arose
Image credits: 9 News Australia
Lal was then asked whether she thought she had an obligation to seek professional medical help when the mother “couldn’t ask.”
“I don’t think I have an obligation,” she said.
“She’s supported by her family. There’s always a husband or father. It’s up to the family. It’s not up to me to make that decision for them.
“The husband or father could do it. If they wanted to call an ambulance, I’m not going to stop them.”
Image credits: naturalspoonfuls/Instagram
Lal said many women choose “free births,” at-home births without a licensed medical professional, because they value “autonomy” and making decisions for themselves.
The court noted that Lal charged for her services, suggesting that this implied that mothers entered a “relationship of reliance” with her.
“No, I wouldn’t say they rely on me,” Lal said.
“The majority of it is just woman-to-woman support. Nothing formal, more just being there for them, listening to them, supporting them in any way they wanted.
Lal testified that she saw herself as a supportive friend rather than a medical professional
Image credits: the_authentic_birthkeeper/Instagram
She added, “It wasn’t as prescriptive as that. It’s filling a void. A lot of these women just want a woman there to support them.”
The former podcaster insisted that she wasn’t an “expert” and that her services involve “supporting” mothers as a “friend” or “big sister.”
She stated that she talks about her own experiences with childbirth and that, despite her role as “birth keeper,” she has never misled anyone into believing she provides medical assistance.
Image credits: naturalspoonfuls/Instagram
To determine what her role as “birth keeper” implied, Rachel Ellyard, the counsel assisting Coroner Therese McCarthy, asked Lal whether she would call an ambulance in the event of a mother suffering “significant blood loss.”
“I would ask how she’s feeling but no, I wouldn’t say ‘I think you’ve lost too much blood’. That’s not my role,” Lal said.
“I don’t know what’s too much. I’m not clinically trained. It’s not my role to assess blood loss…I don’t charge specifically for the birth. When I’m at a birth, I’m attending as a supportive friend. I’m not there to make a birth safer.”
Lal insisted it is not her role to check a mother’s pulse despite her “birth keeper” role
Image credits: GoFundMe
She also said she wouldn’t check the mother’s pulse if the father was unable to do so.
The “birth keeper” told the court that she had lost all text messages exchanged with the Warneckes after changing her phone.
Lal further claimed that she cleaned and threw away the blood-stained carpet where Warnecke had given birth because that’s what the mother would have wanted.
Image credits: GoFundMe
Warnecke, 30, passed away at the hospital on September 29 last year from complications of postpartum hemorrhage hours after giving birth to her healthy son, Axel.
Paramedics reportedly arrived at her residence ten minutes after the emergency call. Inside the home, they found Warnecke lying on the floor, struggling to breathe, with her skin yellow.
Stacey Warnecke passed away in a Melbourne hospital from postpartum hemorrhage
Image credits: Frankston Hospital
The 30-year-old woman was rushed to Frankston Hospital. The hospital reportedly exhausted its supply of Warnecke’s blood type, but she could not be saved.
The court heard an ambulance was only called when Warnecke agreed to it after she began gasping for breath.
“I asked her for an ambulance three times. She started gasping and saying she couldn’t breathe,” Lal said.
Image credits: GoFundMe
“Why did you take no for an answer?” Ellyard asked.
“I don’t know how many times I need to reiterate this. There was no way I was going to call an ambulance against her wishes.”
Image credits: naturalspoonfuls/Instagram
According to Ellyard, Warnecke chose an at-home “free birth” because she had a “deep fear of birth trauma” and being forced to undergo safety interventions that she felt uncomfortable with.
“The only way to have a baby on her own terms was to look for a free birth,” the counsel assisting the coroner said.
Warnecke was reportedly charged $4,200 for Lal’s “birthkeeping” services
Image credits: naturalspoonfuls/Instagram
Lal had built a significant following among mothers before the incident. She charged A$4,000 (US$2,800) for a “full package” in 2020, raising the price to A$6,000 (US$4,200) three years later.
The woman had previously rented a birth pool to a “freebirthing” mother, whose baby passed away after birth, per The Daily Mail.
“It was a birth that had absolutely nothing to do with me, and somehow it ends up with every media report saying that the baby’s d*ath was my fault,” she said.
The hearing continues on Wednesday.
“How irresponsible,” one commenter fumed
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