German midwife on trial after failed 2-day delivery

A local court in Verden, northern Germany, opened proceedings on Monday against a 61-year-old midwife accused of being too slow to seek additional assistance during a difficult home delivery in 2015.

The defendant told the court that she wished to speak to the allegations on Tuesday.

Prosecution believes the child could have survived

The midwife is on trial due to her actions during a 2015 home delivery in the remote rural village of Siedenburg. The village is located around 40 kilometers (25 miles) from any major settlements or highways, roughly between Hannover and Bremen. According to the prosecutors, the midwife should have been quicker to recognize the risk to the child's life.

The woman eventually delivered the dead baby at a clinic in Vechta, almost 60 kilometers or roughly an hour's drive to the west, some 34 hours after the labor started.

The prosecution argues that the child would have lived if the woman had been taken to a hospital earlier or if an emergency doctor had been called to the scene.

Five court days are currently scheduled, running until November 29. The parents of the deceased child are joint plaintiffs in the public prosecution.

msh/dj (AFP, dpa)

Editor's note: DW follows the German press code, which recommends we protect the identities of people facing criminal prosecution in many cases, particularly prior to conviction.

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