PHOENIX (AZFamily) — The state plans to take away an Arizona midwife’s license after a Safford mother and baby died during childbirth.

It happened after they were in her care for a home birth in December.

Arizona’s Family learned this is not the first time something has gone wrong with this midwife, and there are multiple documented citations that date back years.

Those past violations are concerning and frustrating for Parker Terry. The widower says he lost everything because they trusted someone who he says should have had her license revoked years ago.

“Just miss her. She should be here,” Terry said through tears. “She should be here raising her kids, being with me.”

Last Christmas was supposed to be a time of celebration for Terry and his growing family, but instead, it was marked with tragedy. He lost his wife Jordan and his newborn son Mack within a matter of hours in December after complications during a home birth.

“She started losing color in her face and I called it out to Sarah, and she just kind of just ignored me, saying that she’s doing OK,” said Terry. “When she went fully unconscious, I started freaking out obviously, and Sarah just said, ‘It’s OK. She’s just going into shock.’”

Terry says he eventually rushed her to the hospital, and Jordan was then airlifted to another hospital. But she didn’t survive, and Mack was a stillborn.

He blames certified professional midwife Sarah Kankiewicz.

Terry says his wife’s last coherent words were a plea for help.

“Even after saying, ‘I want to go to the hospital,’ ‘you can do this’ is what Sarah would say. ‘Nope, you got this. You got this,’” said Terry.

He says they hired Kankiewicz based on a referral from a friend and her claims that she specializes in VBAC delivery. VBAC is short for vaginal birth after cesarean section, which medical professionals say can be high risk and, in rare cases, can cause a uterine rupture.

That’s what Terry says happened to Jordan after they trusted Kankiewicz.

“She said everything that we wanted to hear,” said Terry.

Jordan was 28 and an ER nurse in Safford.

She has two other children who were born in the hospital. She had a C-section with her daughter and then a VBAC with her son.

Terry says she dreamed of becoming a midwife, so she wanted to experience a home birth herself to better serve her future patients.

“Her passion was babies,” Terry said. “She wanted to take care of babies. She wanted to help bring them into the world.”

After Jordan and Mack died, a complaint against Kankiewicz was filed with the Arizona Department of Health Services.

Records show she was given five citations for failure to immediately alert emergency medical services after Jordan’s lips turned white, not following sanitary practices, and not checking vitals or dilation frequently enough. The report says due to Jordan’s medical history, a midwife should not have performed a VBAC.

ADHS then filed a notice of intent to revoke her license. See the complete notice at the bottom of this report.

“There was negligence and in this negligence, two people lost their lives,” said Terry.

This isn’t the first time the state has found deficiencies in Kankiewicz’s care. Heather Flowers filed a complaint after her own traumatic birth experience when Kankiewicz was her midwife four years ago.

“I could tell that there was a tear. I didn’t know to what degree, but I went into complete shock, so I became extremely numb,” Flowers said. “My daughter also was unresponsive. She was purple.”

An investigation found Kankiewicz worked outside of her scope of practice, failed to check vital signs frequently enough, and downplayed Flowers’ severe laceration.

“We survived, you know, but my greatest fear was that this was going to happen to another mom and another baby, which is why I reported her to the state,” said Flowers.

Kankiewicz has been licensed since 2020, and she’s been issued five civil penalties by ADHS for not submitting paperwork on time. Records show thousands of dollars of fines for repeat violations, which could be significantly reduced if paid quickly.

It’s something Kankiewicz posted about on social media, even writing “Why do I have a license again?!”

“Nothing was really done,” Flowers said. “A little slap on the wrist and now we have the loss of Jordan and her son Mack.”

Between Flowers’ and Terry’s complaints, another was filed, and an investigation leading to more citations was completed in November 2023. That was just one month before Jordan and Mack died.

The November report led ADHS to file a notice of intent to suspend her license in January after determining that Kankiewicz continued to treat a mother after she was diagnosed with hypertension.

“We didn’t know that there were the citations. We didn’t know there were other statements of deficiencies. We didn’t know that there were fines,” Terry said.

The state confirmed to Arizona’s Family on Thursday that her license remains active. That means she is legally allowed to continue practicing while the investigation continues.

But in a recent social media post, Kankiewicz says she chose to give back her license and step away permanently from her current practice.

“Where’s the accountability? Where’s the consequence here?” said Terry.

Terry believes his wife and son would still be alive had the state taken previous complaints more seriously. Now, he’s pushing for change and says more oversight and regulation for midwives are needed.

“The system’s broken. There’s broken, there’s holes, there’s loopholes, there’s gray areas,” he said.

Safford police say there is an active investigation into Kankiewicz, but right now, no criminal charges have been filed.

Arizona’s Family got in touch with Kankiewicz, who said she has no comment due to the open investigation.

ADHS issued the following statement Thursday afternoon: “We acknowledge the sensitivity of the issue. This is an ongoing and open enforcement action. At this time we will not provide any further details.”

Midwife Classification

It’s important to note there are two types of midwives in Arizona and both are legal.

The nursing board oversees Certified Nurse Midwives. These are described as registered nurses who obtain an advanced nursing degree to become a midwife. They fall under the jurisdiction of the Arizona State Board of Nursing.

They are required to maintain the standards of RNs, in addition to requirements and standards for nurse-midwifery defined in the Arizona Nurse Practice Act.

There are also non-nurse midwives who, like Kankiewicz, receive a national certification and are regulated by ADHS.

Complaints can be filed for both kinds, here for nurse midwives and here for non-nurse midwives. Records for any citations are also publicly accessible.

The bottom line is that if a patient or family is seeking a midwife who has RN training, they should seek a Certified Nurse Midwife. A good place to verify their status is through nursys.com, which claims to be the only national nurse licensure and disciplinary database.

Or, contact the Arizona State Board of Nursing online here or by phone at 602-771-7800.

For more information on non-nurse midwives, ADHS has a dedicated section on its website here.

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