A woman who gave birth in a planned homebirth was evacuated to Shaare Zedek Medical Center after she began to hemorrhage and entered a state of shock.
According to Israel Hayom, the birth was attended by Dr. Avner Shiftan, who just last month attended another homebirth which ended with the newborn being hospitalized in serious condition.
In 2020, the Health Ministry revoked Dr. Shiftan's license for a period of 1.5 years, due to the complication of a homebirth. Shiftan holds no degree in either gynecology or obstetrics, and his license was revoked in 2016 as well.
The Israel Midwives Association, which represents 1,400 midwives at public hospitals around the country, as well as community midwives and homebirth midwives, responded, "We are in favor of the freedom of choice during birth, and in favor of the woman's right to choose where she gives birth, so long as it takes place with the attendance of a midwife and according to the Health Ministry protocol for homebirths."
"The guiding principle of the Health Ministry and also for us at the Midwives Association is to place an emphasis, first and foremost, on the safety of the mother and baby, while balancing this with the freedom to choose. There are scientific proofs that when the pregnancy is normal, the mother is healthy, and the fetus is developing appropriately, a homebirth is just as safe as a hospital birth.
"It is essential to mention that in order to give birth at home, a woman must undergo basic tests and rule out risk factors."
"It should be emphasized that according to Health Ministry protocol, a woman must be evacuated to the hospital in the case of one or more of a long and detailed list of complications, such as, for example, a quantity of bleeding that is larger than usual, a delay in the progression of an active birth, and anything unusual in the condition of the mother or infant."