13 April 2022 - Chifundo Bingala & his wife Enersta Christian Chirwa at their home in Westlake, Cape Town. Photo by David Harrison
A case has been opened against the so-called radical birthkeeper, Caitlyn Collins, who for years worked as an unregistered midwife and who has been accused of causing the death of babies.
Ernie Chirwa and her partner, Chifundo Bingala, opened a civil case against Collins, whose alleged negligence caused the death of their twins in February.
Personal injury law specialist, Henry Shields, confirmed that his firm, Henry Shields Attorneys, “was retained to institute civil proceedings, which will commence shortly”.
Bingala said that although he feels “relieved” by the pending civil action against Collins, he wished “things were normal, and how it was supposed to be [with the twins]”.
A year ago, Chirwa was in an advanced stage of her pregnancy. She and Bingala were ready to welcome their twins — Kweli and Kwesi — in late January.
Collins offered to act as a midwife, asking less than the normal fee.
But when Chirwa went into labour after a prolonged pregnancy of 43 weeks, Collins, who had fallen asleep, woke up to realise it was a breech pregnancy. She dropped Chirwa and Bingala at a clinic in the early hours of the morning.
Another 2.5 hours passed before Chirwa was transported to the Mowbray Maternity Hospital. But both of the twins were stillborn.
In April, the M&G wrote that the Chirwa matter was not the first case of alleged negligence by Collins.
Since then more mothers came forward with similar stories about Collins during their pregnancies. They sought medical assistance and had healthy babies.
The South African Nursing Council (Sanc) confirmed in April that Collins is not registered as a midwife. The Nursing Act is clear that no person may work as, or use the title of midwife unless they are registered with the council.
The reason the parents decided to obtain legal assistance almost a year after losing the twin, is “with the police it has been a hopeless thing”, said Bingala.
The state fails the parents
Chirwa and Bingala reported Collins to the Kirstenhof police station in Cape Town on 13 May. Their initial statements got lost and the aggrieved parents had to go back to the station to file another statement. In July, the matter was referred to a senior public prosecutor for decision on whether to prosecute.
Sergeant Max Mxatwa, the detective working on the case, said on 6 December that the case is still pending but, with the festive season approaching, chances of the case moving forward this year are slim.
The police had tried to get the health department involved, he said. But the department did not offer their cooperation because its internal investigation into the matter has been closed, after informing Collins in June 2021 to stop operating as a midwife and to “address” her non-registered status.
In April, Mark van der Heever, deputy director of communications at Western Cape health department, said the matter was not being taken further because Collins did not belong to a professional body. But the department did advise the Mowbray Maternity Hospital to obtain a legal opinion on what laws had potentially been broken.
In August, the department’s Natalie Watlington responded to the M&G’s questions as follows: “The matter was handed over to the legal unit who sought input from the SA Nursing Council. This is just for internal purposes to ensure clarity in future when dealing with private practitioners. We do not have further information to share as the matter is closed and was being investigated by SAPS.”
According to Cyan Khoury, a friend of Chirwa and Bingala, the police were concerned that there was no post-mortem done on the babies, leaving the exact cause of death unconfirmed.
Khoury obtained the full medical record and it shows that one twin’s heartbeat slowed down and eventually stopped before Chirwa was taken to the Mowbray Maternity Hospital. Among her documents were records of Chirwa’s first visit to a doctor in Masiphumelele, transcriptions of telephone conversations between Collins and the parents and the 54-page medical record from the day clinic and hospital.
The stillborn postnatal form from the hospital, which the M&G has seen, suggests negligence from Collins, and that she misled Bingala and Chirwa into believing that she was a registered midwife.
The form states: “Cause of death: A couple followed up regularly with [a] ‘radical birth keeper’, believing that she was a qualified midwife. Spontaneous labour only at 43 weeks. Initially at home almost 24 hours after care of ‘radical birth keeper’.”
Regarding complications during labour, the form states an eventual “foot prolapse” and notes that when the parents were dropped off by Collins at the Retreat Clinic, a “cord prolapse” had already occurred. The mother had delivered a “fresh stillborn baby” at Mowbray Maternity Hospital, according to the form.
Colonel Andrè Traut, spokesperson for police in the province, previously told the M&G that a case against Collins could be opened “for a contravention of section 31(1) and (4) read with section 31(11) of the Nursing Act, 33 of 2005 for practising as a midwife without the proper registration and making use of the title of midwife without the proper registration”.
Mxatwa continues to believe eight months after the case was opened that the police need more advice on how to treat this “first of a kind” case.
He assured Chirwa and Bingala that what took place before, during and after the birth was handed in to the court for a decision on whether to prosecute.
Asked whether the police had contacted Collins to obtain her version of events, Mxatwa said he did not because he did not have her phone number.
He advised people to stop using her services and stop referring her to others.
Free birth keeper
Collins is still attending births under the title of a radical free birth keeper and offers coaching for pregnant women and mothers.
Collins and her colleague, Ruth Ehrhardt, took down their website, Circle of Elephants Midwifery Practice, and now operate under two new domains, Birth Into Essence and True Midwifery, respectively.
Collins and Ehrhardt completed an online course at the North American Registry of Midwives called the Certified Professional Midwife (CPM). This credential is not recognised by Sanc.
She also dropped the term “midwifery” and “all the medical stuff” she believed “was natural because I had learnt it from a midwife”, reads a post on Instagram on 16 November.
“I thought to myself I need to become a midwife, then I can really save women from the system. I refused to do nursing, I [k]new I didn’t want to learn any of the shit I’d seen as a doula in the institutions.
“I learnt that midwives serve the system too. I learnt that midwives serve the hierarchy in order to stay accepted and in order to survive,” she wrote on 15 November.
Her Instagram, Birth Into Essence, shows she continued to attend births after Chirwa and Bingala lost their twins.
As a “free” birth keeper she also offers two sessions on birth trauma and healing for R1 600, and for R4 000 five sessions on what she terms “wild woman/sovereign mother coaching”.
Looking ahead
The ultimate goal Chirwa, Bingala and Khoury share is to stop Collins from attending any more births.
Chirwa and Bingala facilitate a WhatsApp support group for families who experienced similar alleged negligence by Collins during their pregnancies.
“Bit by bit we try to move [forward]”, said Bingala shortly after opening the civil case at the beginning of December.
Chirwa has returned to her previous employment at a childhood development centre in Rondebosch.