MESA, AZ — Midwives at a Mesa birth center are being described as "confrontational or "hindering" in their interactions with medics and police after some 911 calls to report medical emergencies during labor and delivery, according to reports from police, firefighters, and state licensing regulators.
The ABC15 Investigators have obtained Mesa Police Department and Mesa Fire Department reports and some police body-cam video detailing 911 dispatches to Willow Midwife Center for Birth and Wellness.
This is part of ABC15's ongoing reporting on lawsuits and allegations of substandard care and state licensing violations against the Mesa birth center and its employees
One Day - Two Ambulances
During an August 10, 2023, call to Willow Midwife Center about a newborn infant who was not breathing, a nurse midwife debated one of the responding officers, according to Mesa Police body-cam video reviewed by ABC15.
"Wendy, this is an investigation," Mesa Police Officer Robert Zilm said.
"No, it's not," nurse midwife Wendy Shaw replied.
"Do you have your identification?" Officer Zilm asked a few moments later.
"We didn't invite you here," Shaw said.
Nurse midwife Wendy Shaw refused to provide a Mesa Police officer her driver license during the encounter recorded on a police body camera.
Moments later, Officer Zilm was standing in an open, exterior doorway as he said, "I've got to talk to everybody that's involved."
Willow employee Starla Corn is shown on police body-cam video trying to close the exterior door with Officer Zilm outside.
"Okay, I'm going to shut the door; I don't need you to put your foot in front of the door," Corn said.
Both firefighter-paramedics and police officers respond to 911 calls from Willow Midwife Center to assist with lifesaving measures, transport babies and mothers to the hospital, and take reports.
When the officer later asked an employee whether Shaw was ready for an interview, the employee walked toward another part of the office and, without saying a word, loudly closed the door behind her, according to police body-cam footage.
At one point, the center's co-founder and clinical director, Belinda Smith, spoke with Officer Zilm on the phone.
"The child is being transported and is having life-saving measures, so we have to document the incident," Zilm said on the video.
"No, no, no. We are a medical facility," Smith said. "Why don't you take what information you require – just their names?"
Officer Zilm is later heard on camera receiving an update from the hospital, and he told other officers the infant was in stable condition.
Zilm added, "The doctor said this is the second one with the same situation from here today." Fire department records show they had received an emergency call about another childbirth around 6 a.m., and that patient was transported to the hospital.
According to the police video, the officers left without interviewing Shaw.
Mesa Fire Department call for service records for three years, from 2022 to 2024, show 30 cases where ambulances transported people from Willow Midwife Center's address to the hospital. The data does not identify how many of those hospital transfers involved laboring mothers or newborn babies.
A Mesa Police Department spokesperson confirmed that their officers, in addition to firefighters, respond to all 911 calls involving someone not breathing, adding that they've seen no criminal misconduct during the Willow calls.
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Midwife or Physician?
This same Willow clinical director, Belinda Smith, from the 2023 phone call, also appeared on a police bodycam video from a 911 call in January 2021 about a newborn who reportedly was coding and had no heartbeat.
When officers arrived at Willow Midwife Center, they asked Smith if the mother would be transported to the hospital. This interaction was also captured on a police body camera.
"We're a medical facility," Smith said, "She's fine. She's stable. She doesn't move out of our care." Smith also stated that the baby was stillborn.
"Instantly, I could see the baby; it passed before it was born," Smith said.
When the officer asked whether there was a doctor at the facility, Smith replied, "I'm a phys-"
The officer interrupts her.
"You're the physician? Okay," The officer said.
But Smith is not a licensed physician in Arizona, according to a ABC15's check of licensing records for the Arizona Medical Board, the Arizona Osteopathic Board, and the Arizona Board of Homeopathic and Integrated Medicine Examiners. The Arizona State Board of Nursing website shows she is licensed as a nurse-midwife.
Interfering with medics
David Quarles and his wife also expressed concerns about Willow employees' behavior toward first responders after their baby, Ziggy, was born not breathing in December 2024.
Certified Professional Midwife Nicole Amador was their provider.
"I just wanted my baby to get some help, and she was stopping them from helping," Quarles said in an interview with ABC15 last month.
The police report from the Quarles case noted that Amador "interfered" with medics, "moved the child to the unprepared gurney," and "became wrapped in the cables" for the medical monitoring equipment.
The officer concluded Amador was "keeping the medics from working to prepare the infant for transport" to the hospital.
"It was so bad that I had to yell at everybody," Quarles said.
According to the police report, Amador later told an officer she didn't have any issues with the fire department, and she was just trying to rush the process along for the baby's welfare.
Ziggy received treatment at the hospital. He's now seven months old.
Arizona Department of Health Services regulators later cited Amador for multiple licensing violations related to Ziggy's care. The ADHS statement of deficiencies indicated that "[Amador] engaged in conduct detrimental to the newborn's health and safety by hindering the EMS provider's ability to assume responsibility for the newborn's care." Her license to practice midwifery is currently suspended.
"These midwives have no qualms about interfering with the police and EMS, and it's probably their mentality that they work in this bubble of Willow and set the rules there," said Steve Weinberger, the Quarles family's attorney.
Weinberger represents several people suing Willow Midwife Centers, alleging negligence and poor birth outcomes.
ABC15 reached out to Willow, its midwives, and its attorneys about reports alleging they were hostile or attempted to interfere with first responders. None commented for this story.
A Willow spokesperson previously told ABC15, via email, that they have a less than one percent transfer rate for medical needs and that birth centers are safe for healthy mothers with low-risk pregnancies.
You can reach Melissa by email at melissa.blasius@abc15.com or call 602-803-2506. Follow her on X (formerly Twitter) @MelissaBlasius or Facebook.
