HUGE Court Win in Goslin Pennsylvania Case!

Diane Goslin, CPM, who was charged by the state of Pennsylvania Medical Board with practicing medicine/nurse-midwifery without a license, has scored a huge victory for home birth midwives, winning an appeal to the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania. You can download a pdf of the Court's ruling here

There are numerous new stories related to this case I'll list some them here that detail the win, with headlines and initial paragraphs.

The Philadelphia Enquirer
Birthing women win legal decision
By Angela Couloumbis
Inquirer Harrisburg Bureau

HARRISBURG - In a case that touched on whether women have the right to give birth where and with whom they want, a Commonwealth Court panel of judges ruled yesterday that a Lancaster County midwife could resume her work delivering babies for the Amish.

Diane Goslin, 50, had been under a cease-and-desist order from the Pennsylvania State Board of Medicine, which had charged her with practicing medicine and midwifery without a license.

But the Commonwealth Court panel, in a 5-2 decision, nixed that order yesterday.

"I am very excited," Goslin, from New Providence, said shortly after she learned of the decision. "This is such an encouraging day of victory for women and families."
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Harrisburg News
Midwife for Amish wins appeal
by DAVID WENNER, Of The Patriot-News
Friday May 23, 2008, 3:41 PM

A Pennsylvania court has reversed state-imposed fines and penalties against a Lancaster-area midwife who has delivered thousands of babies for the Amish.

A panel of Commonwealth Court judges ruled the state medical board was wrong to fine and order Diane Goslin to stop delivering babies.

But rather than state that Goslin is free to deliver babies, the written decision concludes Goslin hadn't been given adequate opportunity to defend herself against charges of practicing midwifery without a license.

Goslin, 50, said today her interpretation of the ruling is that it allows her to resume deliveries. The state board of medicine couldn't immediately be reached for comment.
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York Daily Record
Pa. court allows unlicensed midwife to resume practice
MARTHA RAFFAELE
The Associated Press

HARRISBURG, Pa. - An unlicensed midwife who assists Amish and Mennonite families with home births won a legal challenge Friday to a state decision that stopped her from practicing.

The Commonwealth Court's 5-2 ruling also overturned an $11,000 civil fine that the State Board of Medicine imposed on midwife Diane Goslin. The board can appeal to the state Supreme Court.

Commonwealth Court said the board erroneously concluded that by practicing midwifery, Goslin was also illegally practicing medicine and surgery without a license.

The board also denied Goslin due process by charging her under a 1985 state law that established licensing requirements for nurse-midwives, but disciplining her under a 1929 law that requires other types of midwives to hold state-issued certificates, the court found.
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For more information about what's happening in Pennsylvania, visit, SaveHomeBirth.com