Newborn dies during a home birth in Budapest

A newborn baby died during a home birth over the weekend in Budapest's District XII. The delivery happened at an institution called the House of Birth, and it was assisted by Ágnes Geréb, who is the spokeswoman for the home birth campaign in Hungary.

Ágnes Geréb, who worked as an obstetrician for 17 years and assisted over 3,300 home births, said that in her experience the baby would have died during a hospital birth as well.

The obstetrician wrote on her website that the delivery and labor were without complications and that both the baby's lying position and size were normal. Accompanied by regular heart rhythms, the baby's head became exposed, but then its shoulders became caught in the birth canal. Geréb wrote that she had done her best, but eventually called an ambulance, and the mother and the baby were taken to the nearby János Hospital, but unfortunately by then it was too late - they were not able to resuscitate the newborn.

According to the head surgeon of the János Hospital, there was nothing to suggest this delivery would be any more dangerous than others, adding that he considered home births to be "flying blind," where one never knows what will happen.

The Hungarian law does not forbid home births, but the Chamber of Doctors finds it unacceptable, and so Ágnes Geréb has been expelled from the organization.

The Ministry of Health does not have an official position on home births, but promises to regulate its professional and financial details in the near future.

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