The Arizona State Board of Nursing has temporarily barred two nurse midwives from providing maternity care and delivering babies.
Both women, Pamela Moran and Wendy Shaw, worked at the now-closed Willow Midwife Center for Birth and Wellness in Mesa.
During their July meeting, nursing board members discussed licensing investigations for five nurse midwives who had worked at Willow. This came after a series of complaints from families alleging substandard care when the lives of moms and babies were on the line.
One couple, Dan and Carson Neisess, previously told ABC15 their baby Winston died in 2023, just days after he was born at a Willow facility with the umbilical cord around his neck.
"Nothing can bring him back," Dan told the nursing board. "We hope the decisions you make today reflect the seriousness of what happened, hold licensed professionals accountable for the care they provide, and help protect other families from experiencing the lifelong loss that our family carries every day."
Willow's History
Willow Midwife Center for Birth and Wellness used to deliver hundreds of babies a year at three Valley locations. Since 2024, several patients have filed licensing complaints or lawsuits alleging negligence or substandard care.
Willow Midwife Center previously settled lawsuits with the Neisess family and two others without admitting fault. In response to other lawsuits, lawyers for Willow denied allegations of wrongdoing and maintained the midwives acted in a prudent, reasonable manner.
In April 2026, Willow closed its last birth center after the owners filed bankruptcy.
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Nursing Board Actions
At the nursing board meeting, nurse midwife Wendy Shaw was barred from all nursing work until a hearing before an administrative law judge.
The board's investigation questioned Shaw's actions after receiving five complaints, including information about the Neisess baby's death.
Shaw's lawyer argued the board previously investigated the Neisess complaint in 2024 and declined action then.
"The clinical record is the same; the fetal heart tones, the maternal heart tones, they are the same," said Bruce Smith, Shaw's lawyer.
But the board's investigator found there was new information that was not part of the original case, including medical records that were "altered."
The board also temporarily suspended Pamela Moran's midwife certificate pending a full hearing before an administrative law judge.
In Moran's case, the board made several preliminary findings, including Moran failed to initiate a timely transfer of a laboring mom to the hospital. The woman's baby was stillborn.
The board suspension documents also said Moran discharged a new mom without adequate stabilization after a postpartum hemorrhage.
The board had previously disciplined Moran in an unrelated case.
Moran's lawyer successfully argued to keep her registered nurse license, so she can continue working at a college nursing program.
"There is no basis to find that Pamela Moran's current practice poses any imminent threat to the citizens of the state of Arizona," attorney Bruce Smith told the board.
ABC15 reached out to the lawyers for Moran and Shaw by email and phone twice on Friday seeking comment, but we did not hear back. Both Shaw and Moran have hearings before administrative law judges in September. After the hearings, the nursing board will make final decisions on disciplinary action.
The nursing board tabled cases with two additional Willow midwives for a future meeting and took no action against a fifth midwife.
