A student midwife was convicted this week of practicing medicine without a license after she delivered a baby without supervision, leading to medical complications, officials said. Katharine "Katie" McCall, 37, was convicted on one felony count in Los Angeles County Superior Court on Wednesday after an investigation by the Operation Safe Medicine team at the Medical Board of California."The mission of the medical board is public protection, and this action reflects the board's ongoing commitment to that mission," said Linda Whitney, the medical board's executive director. The investigation was triggered by a complaint from a witness who saw McCall deliver the baby Nov. 24, 2007 at the mother's home and said McCall, "appeared to lack knowledge and experience," according to a medical board statement and Hubert Yun, the deputy district attorney who handled the case. Yun said the mother met McCall when she was seven months pregnant and had just moved back to Los Angeles from Colorado. McCall, who was also a doula, or birthing coach, had a business for expecting mothers, the Birth Connection, Yun said.
