Obedient to church doctrine, woman dies during childbirth

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SEE ACCOMPANYING ARTICLE FROM OMA PRESIDENT MICHELLE ROBIDOUX AT
BOTTOM AFTER THIS ARTICLE!!!!

By Penny Cockerell
The Oklahoman

CUSHING - From the moment Kathy Lou Capdeville gave life to her
newborn daughter, her own life began to drain away.

On the morning of Aug. 21, 2005, the 26-year-old mother of five lay in
the bedroom of her modest Cushing home, exhausted from 13 hours of
natural labor. She was surrounded by prayers - and prayers alone -
from her husband, Josh; a lay midwife and another woman from the
Church of the First Born, a faith that doesn't believe in medical
intervention.

Had medical intervention been taken, Kathy Lou's retained placenta
would have been removed. The simple procedure likely would have kept
the young mother from bleeding to death.

"Imagine her bleeding for over six hours, people surrounding her, no
one calling for help, all watching, as the last ounce of
life-supporting blood drips from her body and she dies," said Jeanne
Shadaram, Kathy Lou's sister. "Kathy was very obedient, naive. She'd
be that type, to die pleasing someone, which is what she did, in my
opinion."

Capdeville's husband, Josh Capdeville, says his wife refused to go to
the hospital, even though he told her God would forgive her for it.

"I love my wife and I didn't want to lose her, but I respected her
rights and what she wanted," Josh Capdeville said. "This was her
choice. This was her belief. This was her First Amendment right to
freedom of religion."

Religions that shun medical care in favor of faith healing comprise
less than 1 percent of Oklahoma's religious faiths, said Jeff
Hamilton, associate minister of First Christian Church in Oklahoma
City and president of the Interfaith Alliance of Oklahoma City.

"It's a very, very small group," Hamilton said. "There is a growing
fundamentalist, literalistic movement and there are people who turn
faith into magic. In a more secular sense there are those who are
turning to alternative medicine. But they don't use those alternatives
in a crisis situation."

Life changes

Kathy Lou and Josh Capdeville married in a Baptist church while she
was still a junior in high school. Their first two children were born
without complications in a Cushing hospital.

Then the Capdevilles' faith took a radical turn. They joined the
Church of the First Born, a denomination that shuns the practice of
medicine.

Still, Shadaram said her sister occasionally took over-the-counter
medicine and gave her children mild analgesics and ointment without
her husband knowing it, her sister said. She socialized with her
siblings and cared daily for her ailing father, who lived nearby.

The Capdevilles had two more children, both born at home. Then she
became pregnant again.

On Aug. 18, three days before Kathy Lou died, Shadaram said she spoke
to her sister by phone. They talked of the upcoming birth, and
Shadaram said Kathy Lou promised to call her when she went into labor
so Shadaram would have time to drive from Elk City to be with her.

Shortly after 10 p.m. on Aug. 20, Kathy's labor pains began. She took
to her bed on Vine Street while her husband summoned Kay Pruitt, a lay
midwife, and another woman from church.

Though Pruitt calls herself a midwife, Michelle Robidoux of the
Oklahoma Midwives Alliance said Pruitt is considered more of a "prayer
partner," because she had no formal training or medical skills.

"A midwife to them is someone who just trusts God and sits with the
mother, hands off," Robidoux said.

Complications begin

At 5:20 a.m., the exhausted mother gave birth to a healthy girl. Her
placenta should have passed from her uterus within a half hour, but it
never did. According to Cushing police detective Linda Tucker, those
witnessing the birth said she was bleeding profusely.

"They worked with her trying to get the placenta to break loose. They
were massaging her stomach and would lightly tug on the umbilical cord
that was left, but it never would release," Tucker said.

Soon, the midwife took the husband aside and told him his wife was
bleeding 'real bad.' Tucker was told they offered Kathy the option of
going to the hospital.

Josh Capdeville said the option was discussed.

"I told her that she needed to think about her mom, her dad, her
children. She needed to think about me. She had too much to live for.
That God could forgive her, that it is not an unpardonable sin and
that I would stand by her choice no matter what," Josh Capdeville
said. "She told me she did not want to go to the doctor and then die
and go to hell."

About 10:30 a.m., Kathy became incoherent, according to Tucker's
police report.

"They rolled her over on her side and she started convulsing. Her
husband thought she couldn't breathe. He rolled her back on her back
and put a spoon in her mouth to try to hold her tongue down," Tucker
said. "And then, she quit breathing."

At least eight church members had been inside the Capdeville home
during the ordeal.

Some of them alerted the church, which canceled its Sunday services so
the church elders could tend to the death.

Word spread through town and by noon, Kathy Lou's father got the news.
He called the police to investigate.

An autopsy revealed that Kathy Lou died of an intrauterine hemorrhage.
Payne County District Attorney Rob Hudson considered the case, but
found that no crime had been committed.

"As difficult as it may seem, that's what the final ruling was," said
Cushing Police Deputy Chief Terry Brannon. "It's a terrible deal. Just
terrible."

Shadaram remains convinced that her sister would have survived if her
family was there for the birth. She said they would have ensured she
got medical care.

"She died, because she had no voice. No one present to speak for her."

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Death prompts proposal of legislation

After the seemingly preventable death of a Cushing mother during
childbirth, an Oklahoma senator has proposed a law to regulate how
non-nurse midwives assist when delivering at-home births. No such law
exists in the state.

Still, the law proposed by Sen. Patrick Anderson, R-Enid, would not
have allowed a midwife to intervene in the case of Kathy Lou
Capdeville, who bled to death in August after her placenta failed to
pass when her daughter was born.

And no law can prevent a woman from choosing no specialized help at
all when giving birth.

Michelle Robidoux, a certified midwife with the Oklahoma Midwives
Alliance, says the North American Registry of Midwives set a national
standard for certified professional midwives, requiring extensive
training, education, testing and informed consent.

However, women may not know whether someone who identifies herself as
a midwife truly has the skills required to usher in a healthy birth.
Patrick's proposed law, known as the Oklahoma Midwifery Practice Act,
would require anyone identifying herself as a midwife to meet certain
minimum standards.

The law is timely, Robidoux said, since increasing numbers of women
are choosing at-home births. Many prefer a natural birth and reject
certain requirements a hospital may set, such as the policy on having
a Cesarean section.

When someone dies unexpectedly at home, the state medical examiner is
usually contacted, said medical examiner spokesman Kevin Rowland.

There are instances when the medical examiner does not get involved,
such as when the deceased was in hospice care or under a physician's
care or dies of a fatal illness.

When involved, the state medical examiner will decide whether to
perform an autopsy based on the deceased person's medical history and
the circumstances of the death, Rowland said.

If questions arise about the cause or nature of death, then the
medical examiner's office may decide to perform an autopsy. If no
autopsy is done, then the physician who cared for the deceased person
will typically sign the death certificate.

Senate Bill 2049 has passed through the Senate and awaits House
consideration.

-- By Penny Cockerell