Inquest into Melbourne influencer’s death following freebirth halted after new phone evidence discovered

The closing submissions in an inquest into the death of a woman who gave birth at home with no support from medically trained health workers has been delayed, after new evidence came to light after a forensic analysis of her mobile phone. Stacey Warnecke, a 30 year-old nutritionist, died on 29 September in Frankston hospital in Melbourne . Warnecke, a wellness influencer, had paid birthkeeper Emily Lal $6,000 to support her to give birth at home without any medically trained staff involved, in what is sometimes called a “freebirth”. Sign up for the Breaking News Australia email Birthkeepers have no medical training and operate outside of the medical system. The court heard Warnecke suffered a massive postpartum haemorrhage after she delivered the placenta, with an ambulance called approximately half an hour after the bleed was first noticed. Warnecke told Lal and her husband, Nathan, that she was short of breath and needed to lie down after the bleed. In her evidence on Tuesday, Lal told the inquest that although she had been paid to support Lal, her role was primarily that of a supportive friend, that she was not clinically trained, and that it was not her responsibility to make Warneck’s birth safer, or to call an ambulance unless specifically asked. She said she never gave Warnecke medical advice, and only shared her own experiences of freebirthing her own children. …