Midwife threatened mother with 'knife and fork' delivery

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-29783018

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A midwife who threatened to deliver a baby "with a knife and fork" is to face a misconduct hearing.

Marion Owens made the threat and swore in front of a patient at Liverpool Women's Hospital in 2012, Nursing and Midwifery Council papers revealed.

She previously admitted the charges and had agreed to three years of midwifery sanctions but on Friday, the NMC said a review into her fitness to practise as a nurse was needed.

Mrs Owens no longer works as a midwife.

In a hearing to review the sanctions decision, the panel heard the exchange between Mrs Owens and the woman took place in the labour induction suite on 14 June 2012.

The woman reported Mrs Owens was "slurring her speech and behaving erratically".

'Risk of harm'

She said during a conversation, the midwife had told her about a previous patient who had a hypnotist as a birth partner.

Mrs Owens became animated and swore four times, while explaining how long she had been a midwife, the panel heard.

Mrs Owens also admitted failing to make sure her patients all had name bands, failing to keep notes up to date and administering a drug to a patient before it was prescribed.

Mrs Owens, who qualified as a midwife in 1993, now works at a care home in Liverpool.

The panel said she had "put patients at unwarranted risk of harm and brought the profession into disrepute".

Ordering a new hearing into her case, the NMC said the case needed to be reviewed as her "misconduct related to record keeping, medication administration and general behaviour" and so "were equally relevant to Mrs Owens' nursing registration".

Her case will be heard by the NMC at a later date.