A Tri-Cities midwife is suspended for 3 years

The Washington Department of Health has suspended a Kennewick midwife after she failed to respond to unprofessional conduct charges stemming from record keeping issues.

Virginia Frazer, who also holds a separate naturopathic physician license, isn’t allowed to practice as a midwife for at least three years, health department documents said.

Her naturopathic physician license still is active.

Frazer told the Herald on Monday that her patients have never been in danger. The suspension has to do with “clerical stuff and not endangerment of anybody’s health,” she said.

Her practice is Blue Heron Naturopathic Care.

In 2015, Frazer agreed to random audits of her midwife practice after issues with her documentation were raised, including illegible handwriting in charts and omission of some important patient information, health department documents said.

Two random audits from 2016 and 2017 found continuing issues, including illegible handwriting and missing information on things such as standard lab results and ultrasound reports, health department documents said.

In one case, “(a patient’s) charting was concerning because (the patient) was positive for Group B streptococcus (GBS) with no documentation of intravenous antibiotics offered at labor and no assessment of maternal temperature during labor,” documents said.

The health department asked for an explanation about the records issue, but Frazer didn’t respond in time and didn’t answer a subsequent statement of charges, documents said.

The agency said Frazer will be able to petition for reinstatement of her credential in three years.

This story was originally published October 1, 2018 at 3:01 PM.