Midwife practicing without a license after Arizona mother, baby die

PHOENIX (AZFamily) — An Arizona woman is acting as a midwife even though she surrendered her license earlier this year after a mother and baby died during childbirth, according to the state’s top prosecutor.

Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes filed a complaint on July 30 against Sarah Kankiewicz, claiming she violated a settlement agreement.

Court documents say Kankiewicz gave up her license to practice midwifery on June 13 but is still acting as a midwife and performing those services, claiming she is a licensed midwife.

The Arizona Department of Health Services said it received multiple complaints last month that claimed Kankiewicz was acting as a midwife and taking on new clients.

She also reportedly used “LM” after her name when she submitted prenatal lab orders, which stands for licensing midwife.

Someone who performs acts of a midwife without a license is guilty of a class 6 felony.

Kankiewicz had to give up her license because a Safford mother and her baby died during childbirth and in Kankiewicz’s care in December.

Parker Terry said he told Kankiewicz that his wife, Jordan, was having problems when she was losing color in her face and then went unconscious.

He said Kankiewicz ignored the warnings.

Eventually, Jordan was rushed to the hospital, where she later died and their son, Mack, was stillborn.

After the tragedy, Kankiewicz was given five citations for failure to immediately alert emergency medical services after Jordan’s lips turned white, not following sanitary practices, and not checking vitals or dilation frequently enough.

Another complaint was filed against Kankiewicz four years ago.

Along with surrendering the license, Kankiewicz also agreed not to perform any midwifery services for 15 years.

See a spelling or grammatical error in our story? Please click here to report it.

Do you have a photo or video of a breaking news story? Send it to us here with a brief description.

Copyright 2024 KTVK/KPHO. All rights reserved.