Tiruppur woman dies after botched YouTube-assisted birth at home

A 32-year-old woman from a village in Tiruppur district died of postpartum hemorrhage and related complications on Sunday after she gave birth to a baby at her home on June 24, allegedly with the help of her husband, who watched childbirth videos on YouTube.

Police said that following complications, K. Sasikala of Punjaithalavaipalayam in Uthukuli taluk was taken to a private hospital in Coimbatore, where she died on Sunday morning.

The woman went into labor in the early hours of June 24. Her husband Kolanthasamy, 35, and mother-in-law assisted in the birth, reportedly watching natural childbirth videos on YouTube. She gave birth to a girl, police said.

The woman developed postpartum hemorrhage because the placenta was not expelled after delivery. She was taken to Government Erode Medical College and Hospital in Perundurai. She was then admitted to a private hospital in Coimbatore on June 25 and died on Sunday without responding to treatment, police said.

Based on a complaint filed by block doctor Kunnathur, the Uthukuli police registered a case against Kolanthasamy under Section 105 (punishment for culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.

“The family members of the deceased woman did not want to file any complaint. They said the couple had planned to have a natural birth at home,” said Inspector Uthukuli S. Saravanan.

Health ministry sources said the baby was healthy and stable after delivery. The couple have a six-year-old daughter who was born in an institutional delivery in 2020. The department launched an investigation and found the woman was not registered with the Pregnancy and Infant Cohort Monitoring and Evaluation (PICME) system, its maternal and infant care monitoring system.

Police and representatives from the Department of Health are conducting further investigations.

Published – 28 Jun 2026 21:33 IST