A midwife who operated clinics in Arlington and Everett won’t be able to resume practice for at least 15 years under a settlement with the state Department of Health.
Registered nurse Christine Campbell was accused of inappropriate conduct in the 2001 birth of a child who died a few days after being born at the Arlington clinic.
Campbell hopes someday to resume her business, she said Friday.
She has filed a lawsuit against the state, hoping to prove that the investigation into her actions was inadequate and relied heavily on a former employee whom she alleges practiced midwifery without a license.
Campbell ran the WomanCare Clinic and catered to Hispanic women.
The order suspending her license was filed June 23. Campbell, who since has become a paralegal, subsequently filed a lawsuit in Snohomish County Superior Court asking for unspecified damages.
“They accused me of slapping a patient in labor. They flatly lied,” Campbell said. “They made false statements about me to the news media.”
The suspension is indefinite, and she can apply to have her license returned after 15 years. The suspension was imposed by the Nursing Care Quality Assurance Commission, which said Campbell would have to fulfill a variety of conditions if she hopes to practice again.
Campbell said the lawsuit’s aim was to show that the state investigation should be reopened because it was poorly done. “I am prepared to expose the practice of the state to what they have been doing to practitioners, not just myself,” she said.
The state alleged that a woman giving birth was repeatedly slapped on the inside of her thigh during labor, and that Campbell refused to transfer her to a hospital despite the mother’s request to do so.
The mother began shaking, vomiting and bleeding excessively, the state said, and the newborn was not responsive – “floppy, limp and not breathing,” according to the charges.
Oxygen was given to the baby, and a student midwife telephoned a pediatrician. The doctor ordered the infant’s transfer to a hospital immediately. Doctors there found severe neurological deficits in the newborn, according to the state.
Campbell was accused of unprofessional conduct in violation of state law, including leaving the situation in the hands of a less-experienced midwife.
Campbell contested those allegations.
“I had a bad outcome. I’m not responsible for the death of this child, and the state persisted in blaming me,” she said.
Reporter Jim Haley: 425-339-3447 or haley@heraldnet.com.
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