A belief that caused a woman’s death during childbirth

Couple thought the child would be a reincarnation of a family elder

Illustration for TH

The Tirupur woman, who died during childbirth at home, and her husband believed that their second child would be a reincarnation of the latter’s grandfather, a naturalist who is believed to have never gone to hospital till his death at the age of 74 last year, said the police.

It was this belief that led to her tragic death due to profuse bleeding post delivery.

The couple, K. Krithika, 28, and J. Karthikeyan, 34, chose to deliver the baby at home on Sunday as they wanted it to imbibe its grandfather’s ideologies and grow up like him. Krithika, a school teacher, and Mr. Karthikeyan, an employee of a textile company, were reportedly following naturopathy practices and preparing to attempt the second delivery by themselves at home for a long period.

The couple drew inspiration from their friends and naturopaths Praveen and his wife Lavanya as the latter had her second delivery at home.

Apart from guidance from Mr. Praveen and Ms. Lavanya, the couple had been watching online videos and reading books that dealt with natural birth at home.

Though there was resistance from parents and relatives, the couple was determined that the second delivery would take place at home.

Healthy baby

The investigation by the Nallur police into Krithika’s death revealed that the woman gave birth to a healthy girl, weighing more than 3 kg, around 2 p.m.

When contractions began, Mr. Karthikeyan along with Mr. Praveen and Ms. Lavanya attended to Ms. Krikthika. Though the baby was born without difficulty, contractions failed to expel the placenta.

“We are yet to confirm whether Mr. Karthikeyan or the couple’s friends watched YouTube videos at the time of labour.

Krithika who breastfed the baby, asked for a black coffee which she had.

Following difficulty and bleeding, bike ambulance of the 108 emergency service was called.

After being given first aid, the woman was shifted to the Government Hospital Tiruppur in an ambulance, where doctors declared her brought dead.

“The woman died between 3.30 p.m. and 4 p.m.,” said Nallur inspector Jayachandran.