Skip to content 
An inquest heard that Warnecke twice said no to an ambulance being called before agreeing the third time (GoFundMe)
She had refused antenatal screening, including routine ultrasounds, and decided not to have a registered midwife with her during the birth.
Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine pathologist Michael Burke told the inquest that the 30-year-old had died because she’d suffered huge blood loss that triggered complications including heart failure.
“It is rare for a woman to die in childbirth,” he said, adding that blood loss during childbirth was ‘immediately treatable if it is recognised quickly and managed correctly’.
According to The Guardian, doula Emily Lal told the inquest she had been paid $6,000 to be present at the birth, and was ‘not there to make a birth safer’.
“How would I help people stay safe during birth?” Lal replied after being asked if she saw her role as keeping mothers safe.
“I don’t think me being there makes the birth more safe. I’m attending as a friend in a support role.
“I wouldn’t say to her, ‘I think you’ve lost too much blood.’ That’s not my role.”
She also said that Warnecke had asked her if the blood loss was normal, and she’d said it was ‘more than I would consider to be normal’.