Crucial evidence discovered on the mobile phone of a health activist who bled to death after a free home delivery has led to the postponement of an inquest into her death.
The Coroners Court of Victoria heard on Thursday that content discovered on Stacey Warnecke’s phone had raised “issues that will require further investigation and possibly the gathering of further evidence”.
“Some time ago as part of the investigation, your honor obtained Stacey’s phone and requested a legal investigation of its contents,” coroner’s attorney Rachel Ellyard said Thursday.
“Some of the fruits of that analysis were made available in court for the first time yesterday, and it seems to me that the contents raise issues that will require further investigation and perhaps gathering more evidence.”
Warning corner she died last year after giving birth to her son at her home in south-east Melbourne, where only her husband, Nathan, and doula, Emily Lal, were present.
When questioned on Tuesday, Lal told the court that he no longer had any messages or contact between him and Warnecke because he changed his phone immediately after the young mother’s death.
No details about what was discovered on the phone were released in court on Thursday, and it was unclear whether text messages or videos of Warnecke’s work could now be part of the investigation.
Ellyard asked for a delay in closing submissions to allow further examination of the mobile phone and evidence to be gathered from it, which was granted by coroner Therese McCarthy.
“I am of the opinion that this material is of such importance that the court must delay making any findings and hearing submissions until we have had an opportunity to conduct a proper analysis of the material,” McCarthy said.
Almost immediately after passing her placenta early on September 29, Warnecke began bleeding but twice refused offers to call an ambulance. When asked a third time, the 30-year-old agreed and was transported to Frankston Hospital, where paramedics bled to death trying to save his life.
Earlier on Thursday, the court heard evidence from Dr Mark Jeffrey Tarrant, director of obstetrics and gynecology at Casey and Dandenong Hospital, run by Monash Health.
He said that the critical window in which Warnecke suffered postpartum hemorrhage was lost because of the delay in calling emergency services.
Tarrant said to prevent postpartum hemorrhage, trained midwives take steps including external abdominal massage and administering oxytocic medications within a minute of delivery of the placenta. In Warnecke’s case, however, no medical action occurred until approximately 30 to 40 minutes after the first visible signs of profuse bleeding.
“Minutes make a difference,” Tarrant said. “I think if he had midwives with him, he would have survived.”
The doula, who has since been banned from practicing and reported to police and medical professionals on the day of Warnecke’s death, said she had been paid $6000 for a “full package of free birth support”.
Lal estimated she spent between 15 and 20 hours with the first-time mother before the birth, and told the inquest she saw her role during the birth as that of a friend or big sister, saying she did not believe it was her role to make the birth “safer”.
When Lal was asked about the alleged delay in calling an ambulance for Warnecke, he told the court: “I don’t know how many times I can stress this … his freedom was very important to him. There is no way I would have called an ambulance against his wishes.”
The investigation was adjourned and will return to the Court of Inquiry at a later date.
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Melissa Cunningham is the health reporter for The Age. He has previously covered crime and justice.Connect through X or email address.
