Overview
- Stacey Warnecke gave birth at home on September 29, 2025 in a planned unassisted ‘free birth’, her newborn son Axel survived but she later died in hospital from a postpartum haemorrhage.
- A 12-minute Triple Zero call made hours after the birth was played in court and recorded the baby crying, Warnecke’s laboured breathing, and callers reporting heavy bleeding before paramedics found her critically unwell.
- Unregistered doula Emily Lal told the court she asked Warnecke three times over several minutes whether to call an ambulance and refused to call without the mother’s consent, saying she was not clinically trained.
- Frankston Hospital clinicians performed emergency surgery including a hysterectomy and used the hospital’s entire supply of Warnecke’s blood type while attempting resuscitation, and senior staff referred Lal to police over public health concerns.
- Coroner Therese McCarthy is probing whether the death was preventable, the risks of rising free births, and whether regulatory or health-system changes are needed to protect mothers and newborns.