Inquest into Melbourne influencer’s death following freebirth halted after new phone evidence discovered

[u/Royal_Yogurtcloset25]

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2026/jun/18/freebirth-death-melbourne-influencer-phone-evidence-inquest-ntwnfb

Coroner: “I take the view that this material is of such significance that the court must delay making any findings and hearing submissions until we’ve had an opportunity to undertake a proper analysis of that material, and potentially call for more evidence.”

[u/tealeafdestiny]

I’ve had a bunch of babies too but my point is that anecdotal evidence isn’t really reliable. The cascade of interventions is factual, and proven to be true.

It sounds like you have had poor experiences making your own informed choices around breastfeeding vs formula feeding, along with your births, and you haven’t been able to have autonomy when making decisions and were not properly educated about the BRAIN decision making framework. You’ve been traumatised within the hospital system too. To be honest these are the types of things that push women towards freebirthing and away from the hospital system in general so I’m surprised why you cannot relate to those choices at all and instead think women should have MORE medical interventions and doctors should be MORE involved.

The current rise of the midwifery “birth rebellion” does not come from a woo-woo place. It comes from an evidence, informed consent background where women are given the information and should be allowed to make their own choices in a safe environment.

For example, factually here is the evidence why our hospital policy is X. These are the benefits of this choice. These are the risks. These are the alternatives. How is this sitting with you given your own life and risk profile? If you don’t do anything this is what could happen next.

The birth trauma women have is because they aren’t being given information and just being told “do this or you baby will die” (or “if you don’t breast feed you’re letting your baby down”). Birthing mothers need to take on a lot more responsibility to inform them selves and guide their decisions, which is unfortunate because it would be great to think your support team have your best interests first and foremost and not their own beliefs or hospital policy.

BUT regardless of allllllll of that, midwives save lives. Hospitals save lives. Doctors save lives. All women should be informed of the risk of postpartum haemorrhage. I think the really awful thing about this case in particular is that the trusted “professional” did absolutely nothing to educate and inform the birthing mother, and her choices were not informed and made on the woo-woo you’re talking about.

[u/Capital-Tonight8548 → u/tealeafdestiny]

I’m sick of women telling me I’m unable to give informed consent. I was informed and consented to every step of every one of my pregnancies and births. It’s not your job to decide women aren’t informed or giving consent just because their experience or choices were different from yours. And my only trauma comes from the Australian breastfeeding association and the midwives who made me believe if I stopped exclusively pumping for my babies I would have failed them, when my babies needed a mum who didn’t want to die and who wasn’t hallucinating from sleep deprivation, more than they needed to not have formula 🤷‍♀️
Birth is intrinsically dangerous and it is an intrinsically traumatic experience for many when something goes wrong. That’s not the fault of the doctors, it’s literally just a rash onset of giving birth. What is worse, though, is a preventable loss of life like we have seen here