A midwife who was desperate to get home after ordering a takeaway curry told a pregnant woman to 'hurry up' and have her baby, a tribunal has heard.
Jeanette Matthews also allegedly threatened the expectant mum saying, “If you don't hurry up and have the baby I'm going to cut you.”
The midwife also told her that the labour ward was short staffed and that she did not want to be there, the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) heard.
Matthews was the allocated midwife for the woman, known only as 'Patient A' on the labour ward at the Airedale General Hospital in Keighley, West Yorkshire in the UK.
The details emerged after the expectant mother made a complaint against Matthews, who was the midwife assigned to her in February 2011.
Greg Unwin, for the NMC said, “It is said that the registrant was rude in her conduct, that she inappropriately asked Patient A to stop using pain relief and that she had the patient in the lithotomy position, which is when the mother's legs are placed in stirrups without providing any proper explanation or obtaining any consent."
He added that the midwife was interviewed by the investigating supervisor of midwives following the complaint.
The midwife denied that she had told the patient to stop using her pain relief, but admitted she would sometimes tell mums she 'might have to give them a little cut' in order to encourage them to push harder, the panel heard.
Matthews also claimed she had obtained proper consent before putting the patient into the lithotomy position.
Following the complaint, she was placed on a supervised programme of practise at St James' Hospital, Leeds, when it is said she failed to demonstrate competence as a midwife.
On June, 6th 2012, she failed to react when a patient who had recently given birth started haemorrhaging, the panel heard.
On a second supervised shift on June 27th of the same year, Matthews failed to make proper records for a young, first time mother for two hours, it is said.
She was suspended from the hospital and practise as a midwife following an interview on July, 3rd 2012.
Matthews faces a series of charges relating to alleged misconduct and lack of competence at the NMC tribunal in central London which she has chosen not to attend.
If the panel find the allegations against the nurse proved, she could face a period of suspension or being struck off the register.
If the panel find the allegations against the nurse proved, she could face a period of suspension or being struck off the register.
The woman qualified as a nurse in 1987 and later qualified as a midwife in 2002.
The hearing continues.
