An Auckland midwife found guilty of misconduct over a stillborn birth last year has been suspended from practising.
In 2005, Bala Naidu delivered a stillborn baby to Rizawana Hussein, who had died from a blood clot behind the placenta 18 to 24 hours earlier.
Ms Naidu, an independent midwife, was ordered to pay $20,000 and work under supervision for 18 months after admitting she failed to provide proper care at a Health Practitioners' Disciplinary Tribunal in Auckland in June last year.
It was found she had not carried out fundamental checks during the pregnancy and had failed to recognise something was wrong, then fabricated the medical record to make her handling of the case look better.
The Midwifery Council has now suspended Ms Naidu indefinitely from practising after problems emerged during a competency programme, The New Zealand Herald.
Council registrar Susan Yorke would not disclose the exact reasons for her suspension but said it had become clear she "posed a risk of harm to the public".
"The public is protected sufficiently by the fact that she has been suspended.
"The public doesn't need to know the reasons for it and we don't disclose that -- certainly we wouldn't disclose that unless the midwife agreed."
Ms Naidu would not be allowed to practice unless she satisfied the council that she had the competency of a new-graduate midwife, Ms Yorke said.
