A midwife who left a new mother needing plastic surgery – and her baby daughter permanently disabled – has been struck off after a disciplinary hearing of the Nursing and Midwifery Council.

The Daily Mail reports that Susan Rose was found guilty of serious professional misconduct, after she ‘randomly’ cut Victoria Anderson and her baby with a pair of scissors, while trying to deliver the 12lb baby girl.

Daisy – now aged five – was left with her nerves in her neck and arm severed and is now permanently disabled.

Mrs Anderson was so badly cut that she required extensive plastic surgery after the delivery.

Mrs Anderson, 39, had paid 55-year-old Mrs Rose the sum of £3,000 to deliver her third baby at her home in Poynings, near Brighton, in September 2004. The mother-of-three – who now lives in Storrington, West Sussex – said she wanted to contract a midwife privately because she lives some distance away form her nearest maternity unit and wished to have the same midwife throughout her pregnancy.

Mrs Anderson did not realise, however, that during her pregnancy, she had developed diabetes and as a result Daisy – her third daughter – had grown to be 12lb in weight by the time of her birth. She told the hearing she had a history of delivering large babies, but once in the birthing pool at her home, found she was having difficulty delivering the baby’s head. At this point she asked Mrs Rose to cut her to help deliver the baby.

However, the first incisions did not help and Mrs Anderson said that the midwife began ‘sweating’ and seemed ‘stressed’ – and then cut her randomly as if she was ‘a piece of meat’.

She described the room in which the delivery had taken place as looking like a murder scene, with ‘blood everywhere’.

Daisy was taken to hospital immediately, as she had lost colour through lack of oxygen. She had had nerves in her neck severed through being forcibly pulled during the delivery. Her father, 42-year-old Matt Anderson, told the hearing that his wife must have been cut ‘at least 10 times’ – and the scene of the delivery was ‘frantic’.

Mrs Anderson was taken to hospital some time later, the hearing was told. Her bowel was found to have sustained permanent damage during the delivery.

Daisy suffers from Erb’s palsy, which causes paralysis in her arm due to nerves having been severed. She has undergone two operations and can now use her hand and fingers, but is unable to lift her arm or bend it.

Mrs Rose qualified as a midwife in 1987 and a nurse in 2001. She did not attend the hearing, which found her guilty of charges of inducing labour when there was no clinical reason to do so; failing to take appropriate action during labour; failing to accompany the patient in the ambulance after labour; and failing to explain that she did not hold indemnity insurance.

Chairwoman of the panel Catherine Hinton said Mrs Rose’s actions during the procedure had been ‘seriously deficient’.

'This is a case of serious professional misconduct, involving multiple failures of care and professional standards at all stages.

'Her failures put at risk the health of both Mrs Anderson and her baby.’

Mrs Rose was banned from working again as either a midwife or a nurse.

After the delivery, the Andersons tried to sue Mrs Rose, but were told that, as she does not hold indemnity insurance, they could not pursue the claim.

Independent midwives do not have to hold indemnity insurance and the Andersons are now campaigning for a change in the law.

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