A coroner in Victoria rules that the death of a six-day-old baby after a homebirth is preventable and is linked to “deficient” care provided by two privately-practising midwives. The inquest considers events after the mother gave birth at home and then faced an emergency situation requiring transfer for further treatment. According to multiple reports, the midwives delayed transferring the mother to hospital in Bendigo for long enough that the newborn experienced oxygen deprivation. The baby later died at six days old following an emergency caesarean procedure. The West Australian reports the coroner found the care was deficient. The Age, the Sydney Morning Herald and the Brisbane Times add that the transfer delay is a central factor in the coroner’s conclusion. Overall, the sources agree on the key findings: the death is described as preventable; the midwives’ actions are characterised as deficient; and the chain of events includes a delayed hospital transfer, oxygen deprivation, and a subsequent emergency caesarean before the infant died.