Pretoria midwife Yolande Maritz Fouchee's legal team called for an acquittal of charges against her, but the state said it had proved its case and that she should be found guilty, reports The Star.
Testifying in the Gauteng High Court last week, Fouchee maintained her innocence in defence of allegations that her actions led to two babies born with disabilities, while one died shortly after birth and another was declared dead at birth.
She faces 14 charges, including assault and culpable homicide, after claims that she did not pay attention to the risk factors of several of her clients at her You&Me birth clinic in Pretoria East.
Charges of assault against her include that she dosed some clients with the abortion medication Cytotec to induce labour – which was described by an expert as being very dangerous under the circumstances.
Prosecutor Jennifer Cronje told Judge Papi Mosopa that Fouchee’s explanation of how she “correctly” handled each birth is medically impossible, and asked the court to accept the evidence of the four mothers who testified.
A medical expert told the court that Fouchee did not pay attention to the high-risk factors of some of her clients, but she denied this, claiming that with her basic knowledge of doing sonars (obtained during a workshop), she could see that the unborn babies in question were growing inside the womb.
She conceded that she could not diagnose advanced abnormalities. But, according to her, things mostly went according to plan during the births in question. She said she was devastated when one of the babies had died nine days after birth when the doctors switched off the machines that kept him alive.
She was equally traumatised when another baby was declared dead at birth, she said.
However, Cronje argued that Fouchee acted outside her scope and had used unlawful techniques to ensure birth, including the use of forceps in some cases to force birth.
Fouchee was deregistered by the HPCSA in 2021 after she was found guilty on five charges of unprofessional conduct.
Her counsel asked for her acquittal on all charges and said her version that she had at all times monitored and counselled the pregnant women before and during birth must be accepted.
It called the allegations against her either false, “mistaken” or not proved beyond reasonable doubt, adding that the fact that some babies were born with medical problems could not be attributed to Fouchee’s negligence.
The court was due to give its judgment this week.
See more from MedicalBrief archives:
Midwife denies responsibility for babies’ disabilities, deaths
Midwife accused of ‘ignoring pleas’ to admit mother to private hospital
Pretoria midwife faces multiple assault charges