A midwife from Adelaide was dismissed in February 2016 for sending a personal Facebook message to a friend, telling him his ex-partner had given birth to his child.
According to South Australian Industrial Relations Commission documents, the midwife was sacked from the Women’s and Children’s Hospital in Adelaide for sending the message to her personal friend, known as Mr A, stating the baby was “f—king huge”.
The message also included the date and time of birth, and the baby’s weight.
However, 9 News reports the man had a “past history of aggressive behaviour” in his relationship with his ex-partner and when she returned to hospital a few weeks later, she feared he’d find out what ward the baby was in.
The midwife was therefore sacked for giving the father the initial personal information.
Now the “caring and professional” woman who had over six years’ experience has failed to win her job back after an official investigation.
She appealed the dismissal and while health chiefs found she didn’t act maliciously, her actions had broken the midwife code of ethics.
She admitted her “absolute lapse of my rational and professional thinking … When I messaged [Mr A] I was excited. It wasn’t to do with telling him where Ms H was or to break her confidence. I just didn’t think.”
The board ruled she can no longer work in public hospitals.
