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Linda and Tanya McGlade Get 30 Months for Unlicensed Midwifery

AP, via The Ledger, USA
June 16, 2006
Mitch Stacy
www.theledger.com

ReligionNewsBlog.com • Wednesday June 21, 2006

Linda and Tanya McGlade assisted a 2004 delivery that led to the new mother’s death.

BRADENTON — A judge sentenced a Bradenton woman and her daughter-in-law Thursday to 21/2 years in prison for practicing midwifery without a license in the first known prosecution of the crime in Florida.

The conviction after a jury trial of Linda McGlade, 54, and Tanya McGlade, 26, in April was one of only a handful of cases around the country in recent years.

Mara McGlade, 25, bled to death internally two days after delivering a healthy baby boy named Gabriel at home on Dec. 8, 2004. She was the wife of one the sons of Linda McGlade and her husband. Tanya McGlade was married to another son.

“I’m absolutely convinced that if not for Tanya and Linda McGlade’s unlawful practice of midwifery without a license, Mara McGlade would be here today,” state Circuit Judge Edward Nicholas said.

Nicholas also sentenced both to two years’ probation. Sentencing guidelines for the third-degree felony called for 21 months to five years in prison.

Prosecutors said that instead of calling for an ambulance immediately when Mara McGlade showed signs of complications after the birth, members of her church fellowship held hands and prayed before finally calling for help four hours later.

The pair defended themselves at trial, telling the jury they never claimed to be midwives, a profession regulated by the state. The women said they merely attended an unassisted home birth, which is legal.

But Nicholas said the evidence was overwhelming that they acted as midwives, noting that they checked the unborn baby’s heart rate, delivered oxygen to his mother and, among other things, examined the mother’s placenta.

Nicholas said he didn’t understand how Linda and Tanya McGlade would consider delivering Mara’s baby at home after Mara experienced complications during her first home delivery. And he couldn’t understand why they didn’t get help sooner.

“How do you not immediately call an ambulance or take her to the hospital?” the judge said.

The women have said they put her fate in the hands of God.

The sentencing came after about four hours of emotional testimony by friends and family of the defendants, and by the parents and siblings of Mara McGlade who said they had hoped for more prison time.

Mara’s sisters told the judge that she was “brainwashed” by her in-laws, who led what they described as a cultish religious group. Supporters of the McGlades described them, however, as a loving family that embodied Christian values.