A tribunal hearing has found a midwife failed in her duty of care to a teenage mother who she told to 'keep her legs together ' after the young mum suffered a vaginal tear while giving birth . New Zealand 's Human Rights Review Tribunal also heard community nurse Natasha Thomson showed up six minutes after the baby was born at her patient 's house on January 15 , 2012 . She did this despite receiving five phone calls in one hour from the mother who described herself to be in 'excruciating pain ' . A New Zealand Human Rights Review Tribunal found a midwife did not give appropriate care to a teenage mother after she suffered a vaginal tear while giving birth . At one point , Ms Thomson dismissed the increasingly urgent calls from the woman giving birth , her husband and the womon 's mother by saying 'teenage mothers sometimes panic when labour starts , ' the tribunal wrote in its judgement . The patient - only known in tribunal documents as 'Ms B ' - gave birth to her baby 'on her hands and knees in the bathroom ' . Thomson did not bring her scissors to cut the umbilical cord and instead had to use kitchen scissors found by the teenager 's partner , Mr B . After examining Ms B's perineum - the area between vagina and anus - Thomson told the mother there was a tear . It was a home birth and the midwife arrived late despite receiving five phone calls in one hour from the mother who described herself to be in 'excruciating pain ' The teenage mother gave birth to her baby 'on her hands and knees in the bathroom ' She said the tear was not a bad one , referring to it as only a 'tiny tear ' . Thomson looked at her patient 's perineum again and then advised Ms B to be 'ladylike ' , and to keep her legs together and change her pads on a regular basis . But tribunal documents say Ms B had to be later admitted to hospital . The midwife also had not told the new parents how to properly care for the wound , which was at risk of infection . Tribunal documents said Ms B only went to hospital weeks later when the midwife should have had her admitted at the time . In the weeks after the pregnancy , Ms B was in so much pain in her perineum that she could barely walk . When Ms B took a step she could feel the tear pull open , and found it very painful when urinating . she told the defendant that she had tried to make a funnel to prevent the urine from touching the tear , and said that she could not bear the pain . Ms B became so desperate she even tied her thighs together with her dressing gown cord so that she would not pull the wound open when she walked . The defendant laughed at Ms B 's use of the dressing gown cord , which caused Ms B to feel disparaged . The mother was found to have experienced a second degree vaginal tear that she was successfully treated for at Wairau Hospital . The defendant checked the tear and told Ms B that the tear was 'healing fine ' . But Ms B still told the defendant that she was in a lot of pain . At no stage did the defendant refer Ms B to a medical practitioner to assess the perineal tear . Ms B was only finally admitted to hospital weeks later on February 10 , 2012 , after she went to her GP about an infection on her finger that had spread to her hand and arm . It was then Ms B also asked the doctor to check her perineum . The doctor called an obstetrician to assess her and she was found to have experienced a second degree tear that she was successfully treated for at Wairau Hospital .
Nurse Natasha Thomson showed up one hour after the baby was born . Despite her receiving five phone calls in six minutes from the mother . It was a home birth and the mother was in 'excruciating pain ' She gave birth to her baby 'on her hands and knees in the bathroom ' Thomson used the mother 's kitchen scissors to cut the umbilical cord . After examining Ms B 's perineum she said there was a 'tiny tear ' She told Ms B to be 'ladylike ' , and to keep her legs together . But tribunal documents say Ms B had to be later admitted to hospital .