*Content warning: infant loss, death, birth trauma, medical trauma and neglect, fraud, scams. *Free + Confidential Resources + Safety Tips: somethingwaswrong.com/resources Moms Advocating For MomsMarkeda, Kristen and Amanda have created a nonprofit, Moms Advocating for Moms, in hopes to create a future where maternal well-being is prioritized, disparities are addressed, and every mother has the resources and support she needs to thrive: https://linktr.ee/momsadvocatingformoms Please sign the survivors petition below to improve midwifery education and regulation in Texas: https://tinyurl.com/SWWS23 *Sources:American College of Nurse Midwiveshttps://midwife.org/ American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG)https://www.acog.org/ Balance billing: Independent Dispute Resolutionhttps://www.tdi.texas.gov/medical-billing/index.html#:~:text=Texas%20and%20federal%20laws%20prohibit,with%20a%20surprise%20medical%20bill. CMS, The No Surprises Act’s Prohibitions on Balancing Billinghttps://www.cms.gov/files/document/a274577-1a-training-1-balancing-billingfinal508.pdf Do Certified Professional Midwives Need Medical Malpractice Insurance? Understanding the Legal Requirementshttps://www.rcins.com/do-certified-professional-midwives-need-medical-malpractice-insurance-understanding-the-legal-requirements/#:~:text=Texas%3A%20In%20contrast%2C%20Texas%20does,to%20carry%20medical%20malpractice%20insurance. How Expanding the Role of Midwives in U.S. Health Care Could Help Address the Maternal Health Crisishttps://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/issue-briefs/2023/may/expanding-role-midwives-address-maternal-health-crisis#:~:text=Midwives%20are%20licensed%20health%20care,women%20at%20double%20the%20rate. Implementation of 2015 Sunset Recommendationshttps://www.sunset.texas.gov/public/uploads/files/reports/Implementation%20of%202015%20Sunset%20Recommendations.pdf The Legislative Process in Texashttps://tlc.texas.gov/docs/legref/legislativeprocess.pdf National Midwifery Institutehttps://www.nationalmidwiferyinstitute.com/midwifery North American Registry of Midwives (NARM)https://narm.org/ Practicing Medicine Without a Licensehttps://www.criminaldefenselawyer.com/resources/practicing-medicine-without-a-license.htm#:~:text=Many%20states%20make%20it%20a,fine%20of%20up%20to%20%2410%2C000. Regulation of Birth Attendants in Texashttps://texashomebirth.com/regulation-2/ Texas Board of Nursing https://www.bon.texas.gov/ Texas Department of Insurance https://www.tdi.texas.gov/ Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (TDLR)https://www.tdlr.texas.gov/ TDLR, Midwives Penalties and Sanctionshttps://www.tdlr.texas.gov/enforcement/midsanctions.htm Texas Health and Human Serviceshttps://www.hhs.texas.gov/ Texas Medical Board (TMB)https://www.tmb.state.tx.us/ State investigating Dallas birth center and midwives, following multiple complaints from patients, by Morgan Young for WFAA (March 29, 2024) https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/local/investigates/state-investigating-dallas-birth-center-midwives-following-multiple-complaints-from-patients/287-ea77eb18-c637-44d4-aaa2-fe8fd7a2fcef What Do OB/GYN Nurse Practitioners Do?https://nursa.com/specialty-post/what-do-ob-gyn-nurse-practitoners-do#:~:text=OB/GYN%20nurse%20practitioners%20are,not%20licensed%20to%20deliver%20babies. What Is the Texas Medical Malpractice Statute of Limitations?https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/what-the-texas-statute-limitations-medical-malpractice-lawsuits.html#:~:text=Like%20a%20lot%20of%20states,and%20Remedies%20Code%20section%2074.251. Which states have the highest maternal mortality rates?https://usafacts.org/articles/which-states-have-the-highest-maternal-mortality-rates/ Why Won’t an Attorney Take My Texas Medical Malpractice Case?https://www.hastingsfirm.com/your-case-and-texas-law/#:~:text=Texas%20law%20has%20made%20medical,and%20many%20hours%20of%20deposition. Zucker School of Medicine, Amos Grunebaum, MDhttps://faculty.medicine.hofstra.edu/13732-amos-grunebaum/publications *SWW S23 Theme Song & Artwork: Hear more from Emily Wolfe:On Spotify // On Apple Music // https://www.emilywolfemusic.com/ // instagram.com/emilywolfemusicGlad Rags: https://www.gladragsmusic.com/ The S23 cover art is by the Amazing Sara StewartSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Chapter 1: Why should you listen to the latest episode of Something Was Wrong?
Wondery Plus subscribers can listen to Something Was Wrong early and ad-free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts.
When a young woman named Desiree vanishes without a trace, the trail leads to Kat Torres, a charismatic influencer with millions of followers. But behind the glamorous posts and inspirational quotes, a sinister truth unravels. Binge all episodes of Don't Cross Kat early and ad-free on Wondery+.
Chapter 2: What content warnings are associated with this episode?
Something Was Wrong is intended for mature audiences. This season contains discussions of medical negligence, birth trauma, and infant loss, which may be upsetting for some listeners. For a full content warning, sources, and resources, please visit the episode notes.
Opinions shared by the guests of the show are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of myself, Broken Cycle Media, and Wondery. The podcast and any linked materials should not be misconstrued as a substitution for legal or medical advice. Origins Birth and Wellness owners and midwives Caitlin Wages and Gina Thompson have not responded to our requests for comment.
Chapter 3: Who are the key figures involved in the Origins Birth and Wellness investigation?
Thank you.
Here's Kristen.
Me and Markita began to meet up. We poured over her records and my records. I was trying to understand where legally they had messed up and where they had violated a direct code from their bylaws. And then also trying to help Marquita with that as well, because what happened to her son was absolutely preventable.
And I also wanted her to get recourse, knowing that I couldn't get recourse myself criminally or through malpractice insurance. We poured over her records and my records. They went so far as to falsify my records by signing off on my records saying that they were Jennifer's preceptor. I had never met Gina or Caitlin ever. They were never in clinic with me.
Chapter 4: What issues have been reported with midwifery practices in Texas?
As the survivors investigated Origin's birth and wellness past further, one of the most eye-opening discoveries centered around owner Gina's first year as a licensed midwife. Gina Phillips became a licensed midwife on March 28th, 2013. By the end of that same year, the Texas Midwifery Board would receive at least one complaint about Gina's services and began the review process.
Then on October 9th, 2014, Gina was sent a notice of violation that stated Gina rendered services on or about December 13th, 2013 to April 6th, 2014 that allegedly violated several of their codes. End quote. End quote.
She also received a violation for allegedly not referring clients to another clinician in the event of other conditions or symptoms assessed by a midwife exercising reasonable skill and knowledge that could adversely affect the mother or fetus. Two more of Gina's violations were related to guidelines surrounding labor and delivery that require a midwife, quote, end quote.
According to the docket highlighting the Texas Midwifery Board's disciplinary actions, Gina was notified that her license was being suspended, and she was going to be put on professional probation in October of 2014. However, Gina signed a statement saying she did not accept the proposal by the Complaint Review Committee and requested an informal conference and formal hearing.
On February 16, 2015, a meeting was held and disciplinary terms were agreed upon. Gina ultimately agreed that over the following year of her probated suspension that she would not supervise any apprentices or students and she would be supervised by a preceptor for 10 or more births.
She also agreed to submit the charts of the first 10 births she attended in her probationary period and submit evidence of one year of supervised practice.
Lastly, Gina had to submit proof to the Texas Midwifery Board of taking three hours of continued education, including charting, hypertensive disorders in pregnancy, and vaginal births after cesarean, as well as additional education hours required for licensure renewal.
What makes these findings even more interesting is that Caitlin Wages, eventual co-owner of Origins, became a licensed midwife on October 10, 2014, only one day exactly after Gina received her first notice of violation from the Texas Midwifery Board.
Considering the fact that Gina allegedly acted as Caitlin Wage's preceptor while Caitlin earned her licensure, that also implies that Gina's violations occurred while she acted as a preceptor. Relatedly, it's important to highlight that the North American Registry of Midwives
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Chapter 5: How did Origins allegedly engage in fraudulent billing practices?
Balance billing occurs when a health plan doesn't pay the full amount charged by an out-of-network provider, and the provider sends the patient a bill for the remaining amount. What essentially balanced billing is, is you're not allowed to charge a patient more than what their insurance finds them responsible for, even if it's out of network.
No surprise bills, essentially, is what the state of Texas has declared.
How were you guys able to determine that Origins was doing this?
I had an anonymous person reach out to me who used to be an employee of Origins. And they knew a lot about insurance and they knew a lot about how Origins operated behind the scenes. And they walked me through how to look at my bill, what information I needed to get from my insurance and from Origins to be able to assess whether or not I had been overcharged.
Also, I have text messages where the financial director, specifically on my case, instructed an employee to balance bill me. Like she uses those words, balance bill it, which I thought was absolutely wild. So I was owed a refund. I sent many emails and left many voicemails
She never responded to me outside of sending me two itemized bills, one which stated the amount that I paid to Origins, and then she sent me another one. After I had asked for insurance audits to see the claims that they filed, she sent me another bill stating that I owed them $400, but they weren't going to pursue it.
They charged me like $350 for an office visit, which was actually a phone call with Jennifer, an unlicensed student. And so in my emails, I was like, you can't charge me $350 for an office visit that was a phone call with an unlicensed, uncredentialed provider. I asked for a meeting with her. I asked to speak with her on the phone. She just point blank did not respond to my emails.
Nobody ever followed up with you about that? No, not at all.
Do you know if any of the other women have had run-ins with her, so to speak?
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Chapter 6: What regulatory challenges do midwives face in Texas?
They don't really look into patient negligence and things of that nature.
Here's Amanda.
Origins wasn't operating their business how they were supposed to be within the city of Dallas or the city of Fort Worth. They had been operating in Fort Worth for nearly a decade without a certificate of occupancy, no city inspections. I think they had two remodels in that time and no permits with the city, nothing. They had filled in a pool in the backyard of the birth center.
All of those things require permits. They didn't have a certificate of occupancy for the clinic in Dallas. Their clinic was shut down for over a month because they did not have a certificate of occupancy. And they had to make major, major repairs to Fort Worth.
Here's Kristen again.
We started digging into Texas admin code for midwives. I realized that I could report to TDLR, Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation. The same committee regulates sanitarians, barbers, and tow truck drivers, regulate direct entry midwives. It was really shocking because I was an esthetician.
I was licensed by TDLR and the fact that being an esthetician, someone who gives people facials and waxes people, was regulated by the same body who regulates direct entry midwives who are literally in charge of life and death. Being a first-time pregnant person, what I didn't understand was that there are a lot of things that happen to your body.
during the course of your pregnancy, labor and delivery. There's a whole slew of unfathomable things that I could list off to you that can occur during pregnancy, labor and delivery, even if you had a perfectly healthy pregnancy that would put you or your child at risk.
And for a body such as TDLR to be overseeing and determining what kind of education is best, what kind of practices are best, and determining the consequences for if you steer outside of your practice scope, it's laughable.
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Chapter 7: How to file a complaint against a midwifery practice in Texas?
That was the next step.
In the early hours of December 4th, 2024, CEO Brian Thompson stepped out onto the streets of midtown Manhattan.
This assailant pulls out a weapon and starts firing at him.
We're talking about the CEO of the biggest private health insurance corporation in the world. And the suspect. He has been identified as Luigi Nicholas Mangione. Became one of the most divisive figures in modern criminal history.
I was targeted, premeditated, and meant to sow terror.
I'm Jesse Weber, host of Luigi, produced by Law & Crime and Twist. This is more than a true crime investigation. We explore a uniquely American moment that could change the country forever.
He's awoken the people to a true issue. Finally, maybe this would lead rich and powerful people to acknowledge the barbaric nature of our health care system.
Listen to Law and Crime's Luigi exclusively on Wondery Plus. You can join Wondery Plus on the Wondery app, Spotify, or Apple Podcasts.
You know those creepy stories that give you goosebumps? The ones that make you really question what's real? Well, what if I told you that some of the strangest, darkest, and most mysterious stories are not found in haunted houses or abandoned forests, but instead in hospital rooms and doctor's offices? Hi, I'm Mr. Ballin, the host of Mr. Ballin's Medical Mysteries.
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