PHOENIX — An Arizona midwife has surrendered her license to practice after one of her clients and a newborn baby died following a home birth she oversaw.
That family is questioning if the midwife is practicing again.
Parker and Jordan Terry opted to work with a midwife during Jordan's pregnancy last year because Jordan was a nurse who wanted to become a midwife herself. She wanted to go through the home birth with a midwife to know what her eventual clients would go through.
They decided to work with Sarah Kankiewicz, a non-Nurse midwife.
But the home birth went tragically wrong.
Jordan's lips turned blue. Kankiewicz assured Jordan and Parker Terry everything was okay, but it wasn't. Jordan suffered a uterine rupture and she and their newborn baby, Mack, did not survive.
Parker Terry filed a complaint with Arizona's Department of Health Services and it wasn't Kankiewicz's first.
An ADHS investigation found Kankiewicz had failed to protect her patients. She shouldn’t have been doing a homebirth. In fact, the Arizona health code regulating midwives said she was prohibited from it, because Jordan had previously had a C-section and a blood transfusion, raising the risk of a complicated pregnancy.
ADHS filed a notice of intent to revoke Kankiewicz's license and in June, they reached a settlement agreement.
She cannot work as a midwife in Arizona for 15 years and must remove all advertisements and social media suggesting she can provide any midwifery services.
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“I was happy to see that. But, I mean, it doesn't really bring my wife back. That's the overarching thing is it doesn't bring her back," Parker Terry said.
Terry said he was recently alerted that Kankiewicz was still working in the birthing industry.
“We were going along our merry way healing and then it was sent to me that Sarah is practicing," Terry said.
12News briefly spoke with Kankiewicz by phone Monday. She said she is limiting her services to birth pool rentals and breastfeeding support through her company Wild Birth Services.
“Of course she's going to say that because admitting to it is a class five felony in the state of Arizona," Terry said.
Terry said her informed consent agreement for clients paints a different picture.
In the document, Kankiewicz claims she is a monitrice or a "doula who has completed midwifery training."
She writes that she chose to give back her state midwife license due to the state requiring her to do certain procedures even if the mother declined or abandoned the client, which she said she ethically believed was wrong.
12News asked an ADHS spokesperson if the department is aware of Kankiewicz's current business and if it falls within the guidelines of her settlement agreement.
So far, nobody has answered those questions.
“That puts so many people in danger," Terry said.
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