“She didn’t need to have this happen to her. We could have helped her if only we had been involved, if only we had had the opportunity to help her.”

These are the words of obstetrician Dr Nisha Khot, director of obstetrics and gynaecology at Melbourne’s Frankston Hospital, reflecting on the death of wellness influencer Stacey Warnecke after a catastrophic postpartum haemorrhage following a freebirth.

The effort to save her involved obstetricians and gynaecologists, anaesthetists, intensivists, cardiologists and nursing staff across numerous departments. 

Dr Khot says it was traumatic for the medical and nursing staff because they believed they were dealing with an obstetric emergency that, in hospital, is treated frequently and nearly always successfully.