Midwife start-up Oula funded by Chelsea Clinton is sued

It’s a multi-million dollar start-up backed by Chelsea Clinton and Glamour magazine which claims to be “redesigning” how women give birth.

Oula operates from two clinics designed to look like interiors associated with Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop brand, where it offers midwife-led care which it says dramatically cuts the rates of Cesarean sections and premature births.

Its star-studded events have featured CBS News anchor Gayle King, ballerina Misty Copeland and  Seagram’s heiress Hannah Bronfman, while its polished social media includes motivational quotes for “birthing people.”

But now the health company has been hit by a lawsuit which claims its negligence led to a baby being born badly brain damaged.

The baby’s parents allege Oula’s midwives were “reckless” and failed to get obstetricians to act fast enough to deliver their baby boy by C-section last year.

The Brooklyn mother and father, who The Post is keeping anonymous, say that the midwives as well as doctors and nurses at Mount Sinai West, where Oula’s babies are delivered, used “contraindicated procedures” on the mother and baby.

The infant went into “fetal distress” when the birth was delayed and suffered hypoxic brain damage, the lawsuit says. Hypoxic brain damage occurs when there is not enough oxygen going to the brain.

Oula has not yet filed a response to the lawsuit, which was filed in Brooklyn State Supreme Court.

“Our hearts go out to any family suffering during what should be a joyful moment in their lives,” a spokeswoman for Oula told The Post.

“We honor healthcare privacy and can’t comment on this claim. We started Oula out of a deep commitment to support families during pregnancy, birth and early parenthood and we continue to operate with this commitment.”

Oula is one of a number of start-ups aiming to cash in on a potentially lucrative change in the Affordable Care Act which ordered insurers to pay for midwife-led care for pregnant women.

The change was prompted by concern that mothers in the US have exceptionally high rates of birth by C-section and that maternal mortality rates are too high.

More than 32 percent of live births in the US were cesarian deliveries in 2022, according to the March of Dimes.

This is more than double what the World Health Organization deems ideal for cesarian births — at 10 percent to 15 percent.

In England, where midwives typically accompany women throughout pregnancy and birth, 15.5 percent of live births were delivered by elective C-section, while 19 percent were emergency cesarian deliveries, according to statistics from the National Health Service.

Maternal mortality rates in the US are among the highest in the developed world. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 32.9 deaths per 100,000 births in 2021, its most recent statistics. In England, that rate was 13.41 per 100,000 births in 2022.

There are about 14,000 midwives in the US, compared to 21,000 obstetricians, according to the American College of Nurse-Midwives, although a spokeswoman for the Washington-based group said the number of midwifery training programs are on the rise. Training programs for midwives increased from 38 to 46 last year, according to the group..

Oula was started by Harvard grad Adrianne Nickerson, who has degrees in biology and global health, as well as Elaine Purcell, who has a masters in health care administration from New York University, according to their LinkedIn profiles.

Oula’s first round of investment secured cash from a fund run by Clinton, who also has a masters in public health from Columbia University. That initial funding allowed Oula to open its two clinics, with a third on the way in upper Manhattan near Columbia University. More clinics are planned in the tri-state area, according to its founders.

One of Oula’s clinics is on Spring Street in Soho, above the trendy sushi restaurant Sugarfish. And the other is in ultra-affluent Brooklyn Heights, where its hotel lobby like entrance is next to the TikTok hit bakery, L’Appartment 4F.

One new mother praised the clinics, which feature buttery leather chairs and baskets of clementines, as “zen like.”

The former first daughter has spoken up for Oula, which in February clinched $28 million in investment from various venture capital funds, raising its overall funding to $50 million. Clinton was an early investor through her Metrodora Ventures LLC. 

“Very proud to be an investor in Oula as they continue to build a midwife-centered care model that has better outcomes for mothers & babies alike,” Clinton posted on X in December.

Other backers include Jonathan Bush, the nephew of the former president, who quit in disgrace from his healthcare job at Athenahealth after the Daily Mail revealed in 2018 that he attacked his wife. Oula promises a path to profitability.

“The market opportunity Oula is going after is massive, and we were able to show that we had a winning business model and positive unit economics,” said Nickerson and Purcell in a February interview in Medium.

The start-up has delivered more than 1,500 babies since its founding, and now features 60 employees.

But the lawsuit raises questions over Oula’s predominantly midwife-led approach.

Following the birth of the brain damaged infant last year, Mount Sinai West assigned a dedicated obstetrician to Oula’s patients, a source who did not want to be identified told The Post.

The source told The Post that Oula did not have a dedicated obstetrician at Mount Sinai West until recently, and relied on busy doctors and nurses when an emergency arose. Among the defendants in the lawsuit are nine doctors and nurses from Mount Sinai West, court papers say.

“Oula is all about the money,” a source who did not want to be identified told The Post Wednesday. “It’s really an egregious and dangerous line they’re walking.”

Among the job openings on the startup’s web site are ones for a clinical OB/GYN and an OB/GYN Laborist — a specialist in labor and delivery.

“We’re looking for a thoughtful and passionate leader who will provide obstetrical and postpartum care for patients and collaborate with our midwifery team at Mount Sinai West,” the ad on the Oula website reads.

“This position is 100% clinical and inpatient on the Labor and Delivery, Postpartum, Antepartum floors.”