Tamil Nadu: Woman dies after husband tried to home deliver baby watching YouTube videos

In a shocking incident, M Loganayaki, a 27-year-old woman from Tamil Nadu, lost her life on Tuesday, August 22, after giving birth at her home in Puliampatty, close to Pochampalli, due to substantial blood loss. After learning from worried neighbours that her 30-year-old husband, Madesh, had been watching YouTube videos on home births, the local police detained him for questioning.

Reportedly, Madesh attempted normal delivery of the baby after his wife Loganayaki experienced labour pain on Tuesday. He did it using a technique he had learned by watching videos on YouTube and a baby boy was born at around 4 AM. However, the deceased woman’s husband failed to properly cut the umbilical cord while attempting the home delivery, causing uncontrolled blood loss.

Her placenta remained inside her body which resulted in a haemorrhage and the bleeding persisted as the family tried to remove the placenta. Due to the postpartum haemorrhage, the woman fell unconscious and eventually died.

Subsequently, Madesh and his family took the woman and the newborn to the nearby Pochampalli government hospital at around 10:30 AM. The hospital authorities confirmed the woman was brought dead, the newborn had been admitted for treatment.

Dr Radhika, the Medical Officer at the Puliampatty Primary Health Centre (PHC), filed a police complaint following the death of Loganayaki. According to Dr Radhika, Madesh’s family tried to move the deceased woman’s body to Dharmapuri without a postmortem examination until she intervened.

Reportedly, Madesh took the newborn back to Hanumanthpuram in Dharmapuri and refused to get the necessary vaccinations for the baby. Moreover, he also refused to say anything about the YouTube video they watched to conduct a home delivery.

According to Pochampalli DSP Manoharan, a case has been filed under Section 174 of the CrPC (Code of Criminal Procedure), which deals with unnatural deaths. DSP Manoharan further informed that Madesh has been taken into custody to be questioned as part of the ongoing probe. He added that if charges against Madesh are confirmed, he will be arrested.

As per reports, the couple were postgraduate in social work. Both Loganayaki and Madesh were organic farming enthusiasts and were keen on eating healthy food. According to PHC Medical Officer Dr Radhika, both Loganayaki and Madesh had mutually decided on going for home birth instead of going to the hospital and getting proper medical care. Dr Radhika also claimed that the villagers informed her that Loganayaki had refused to take iron tablets and urged the villagers to eat leafy vegetables only.

As the pregnancy was being tracked by local health workers, the couple had left their village and moved to her parent’s house to avoid tracking and avoid taking medical care, said Dr. Jayanthi, Deputy Director of Health, Dharmapuri,