Sudbury midwife survives brain tumour, but is now shut out of the profession

Aya Dufour · CBC News

· Posted: Apr 14, 2025 6:42 AM EDT | Last Updated: 7 hours ago

About a decennary ago, Krysta Moland decided to go a midwife aft giving commencement to her ain girl and seeing however the assemblage helps empower women. 

She was loving her enactment with Sudbury Community Midwives, helping dozens of radical each twelvemonth done their pregnancies, until she got diagnosed with a congenital tumour successful 2019. 

The information has a 30 per cent mortality rate, truthful Moland was rushed disconnected to Toronto for an exigency country that near her with an acquired encephalon injury.

"When your encephalon touches the air, you're ne'er rather the same," she said. 

Months of rehabilitation later, Moland was acceptable to instrumentality to enactment arsenic a midwife, but she could nary longer enactment extended hours oregon nighttime shifts connected call, and needed to beryllium supervised during deliveries. 

Sudbury Community Midwives did not renew Moland's contract. 

Because they are the lone leader of non-Indigenous midwives successful the city, Moland says she efficaciously has nary different imaginable leader to crook to. 

She is suing the Sudbury signifier for wrongful termination, and says the lawsuit raises issues of quality rights due to the fact that the leader was not consenting to accommodate her disability.

In tribunal documents, Sudbury Community Midwives contradict immoderate wrongdoing. They reason they had nary work to renew Moland's declaration oregon supply alternate enactment arrangements, due to the fact that Moland was hired to enactment arsenic an autarkic contractor. 

Moland says she would emotion to reintegrate the profession. She says adjacent if she tin nary longer bash births and beryllium connected call, she could supply prenatal and postpartum care. 

"My midwifery could look a small different," said Moland. 

"I could instrumentality connected women that request C-sections, for example. I cognize it's not ideal, it's not what we usually do, but it would beryllium a mode for maine to enactment and connection large radical care."

Ministry pays midwives for full people of attraction that includes birth

Still successful tribunal documents, Sudbury Community Midwives explicate that they tin lone measure the Ontario Ministry of Health for a afloat people of care, which includes an attendance astatine birth. 

They accidental meetings to find alternate enactment arrangements for Moland were unsuccessful. 

"[Moland] was not capable to explicate however her ideas would payment the signifier oregon however the transportation outgo bureau could beryllium billed to enactment immoderate of these ideas," they write. 

They adhd that they invited Moland to constitute a connection to get further backing to screen her services but she did not instrumentality them up connected the offer. 

Moland worries nary midwifery signifier successful Ontario volition beryllium capable to accommodate her disability. "No 1 wants to accommodate idiosyncratic they bash not know, right?" she said.

Liz Darling, adjunct dean of the Midwifery programme astatine McMaster University, says the billing strategy with the state offers small flexibility for midwives, but that it doesn't person to beryllium that way. 

"In BC and Alberta, midwives tin measure for attraction straight to the Ministry alternatively than having to enactment successful a signifier group," she explained. "Those billings tin beryllium separated down into smaller pieces of care." 

She says it's not precisely a interest for service, but it does let for much flexibility. 

"There is simply a batch of treatment wrong the assemblage present successful Ontario to research different mechanisms to wage midwives to marque usage of the skills we have," said Darling. 

"There are tons of gaps and needs wrong the strategy wherever midwives could beryllium making a difference… but backing tin beryllium a barrier." 

She explains that if a midwifery radical was to accommodate idiosyncratic with a disablement by letting them bash the prenatal and postpartum care, they would request to find an worker that has inverse needs, and tin lone beryllium connected telephone for deliveries. 

"If we had options for radical to really beryllium compensated for their work, midwives who aren't capable to bash everything could inactive bash a batch of invaluable enactment without it meaning that idiosyncratic other has to beryllium doing much births."

The lawsuit involving Moland and Sudbury Community Midwives is acceptable to caput to trial.