$6,000 Home Birth Fee at Center of Perjury Probe

Coroner Therese McCarthy in Victoria, Australia, is weighing a referral to the Office of Public Prosecutions against birthkeeper Emily Lal based on new digital evidence. The review follows the death of Stacey Warnecke, a 30-year-old nutritionist who died in September 2025 at Frankston hospital in Melbourne. Warnecke had paid Lal $6,000 for support during her pregnancy and labor.

The inquest resumed on Monday after a delay for the forensic analysis of Warnecke's phone. Counsel assisting the coroner, Rachel Ellyard, presented messages from a WhatsApp group chat coordinated by Lal for women choosing freebirth. These records directly contradicted Lal's June testimony, where she described her role as that of a supportive friend. Ellyard stated that the analysis revealed Lal’s intention to groom clients to resist seeking medical help, pain relief, or hospital care during labor.

A recorded call played in court captured Lal telling Warnecke, “You should be scared of the hospital.” Lal described the hospital as “a terrifying place” and argued that staying home required a mental condition that was “so solid.” She also suggested that midwives at home births sometimes sabotage the process by recommending hospital transfer due to their own exhaustion, a claim that challenged her earlier assertion that she offered no medical advice.

Lal had previously told the court she was not clinically trained and would not call an ambulance unless asked. Ellyard rejected this characterization, describing the arrangement as “much more structured, much more deliberate” than a casual friendship. Ellyard noted that Lal provided advice, made referrals, and sold supplements, while Warnecke’s husband, Nathan, was “reassured or indoctrinated” into a passive support role.

Lal declined an invitation to provide further evidence after the phone analysis was completed. She had originally testified under a certificate of protection, which prevents her inquest evidence from being used against her in future criminal proceedings. Ellyard told the coroner that a finding of untruthfulness would allow for a perjury referral. The Office of Public Prosecutions prepares and conducts criminal matters on behalf of the director.

The court previously heard that Lal asked Warnecke three times if she wanted an ambulance after the mother lost up to 1.5 liters of blood and struggled to breathe following the delivery of the placenta. Warnecke agreed to the call on the third attempt but was already seriously unwell when paramedics arrived. She died in hospital several hours later after medical staff exhausted the facility's blood supply. Lal maintained that it was not her role to call an ambulance against a client's wishes, even if the woman was unconscious.

Ellyard argued that Warnecke would have survived if she had been in a hospital, noting that postpartum hemorrhage is a common complication that is rarely fatal in well-resourced settings. Medical evidence presented to the court indicated Warnecke would also have survived a home birth attended by a registered midwife. Ellyard described the condition as “eminently treatable if identified and responded to immediately.” The coroner will deliver her final findings at a later date.