KEY POINTS
- A "freebirth" - sometimes called a "wild birth" - is when a woman plans to gives birth outside of a hospital, without the supervision and presence of a registered health professional in childbirth, such as a midwife or doctor.
- The chief midwife at the Australian College of Midwives, Alison Weatherstone, says it is important to understand the level of risk when parents forgo the supervision of a registered health professional like a midwife or doctor.
- The recent death of premature twins in Byron Bay, New South Wales [[11 Feb]] - in an apparent free birth - is raising fresh concerns about the practice.
