A Tampa mother wants state lawmakers to finetune state laws after an uninsured midwife who received hundreds of thousands of dollars in Florida Medicaid dollars injured her baby during delivery. 

“I think what accountability looks like is…you guys hearing the story, hearing the facts and doing something about it,” Victoria Vasser said. 

Vasser hired midwife Sizzly Auer, who also goes by Sizzly Buchanan Gibb, in 2021 when she was pregnant with her first child, Dylan. During delivery, Auer pulled Dylan’s head with force to free him after he got stuck behind Vasser’s pubic bone. Records show this resulted in some of the nerves that control movement in Dylan’s arm and hand being destroyed. He is now unable to use his right arm.

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Auer’s licensing file with the Florida Department of Health revealed the state had granted her an insurance exemption after she reported she was not delivering babies in Florida. Dylan’s birth, social media videos and Auer’s own records to the state suggest otherwise. 

Auer also maintained her midwifery license after the Agency for Healthcare Administration fined her $33,000 in 2015 for running an unlicensed birth center. An agency spokesperson said the fine remained unpaid.

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AHCA denied Auer’s most recent application to be a Florida Medicaid Provider after 10 Investigates uncovered the agency paid her more than $326,000 in Florida Medicaid dollars despite not carrying state-required insurance and owing the agency a large debt. 

“It seems to me that there’s a lack of coordination between AHCA and the Department of Health,” said Tampa attorney Olivia Kronenberg, who represented Vasser in a medical malpractice lawsuit. 

AHCA oversees the Florida Medicaid program and licensing for birth centers. The Florida Department of Health oversees licensing for individual midwives. In this case, when AHCA fined the midwife for running the unlicensed birth center, it’s unclear whether the agencies ever communicated. That’s because her license remained in good standing with the Florida Department of Health, and AHCA continued to pay her with state Medicaid money. 

RELATED: State terminates Medicaid contract for uninsured midwife after 10 Investigates uncovers violations

“From what they tell me is that the systems don’t communicate,” Vasser said. “Well, maybe they should talk. Maybe you guys should talk and so less of these things can happen. So overall, I would like to see some rules and regulations, policy changes.”

Earlier this year, House Minority Leader and state senator-elect Fentrice Driskell (D-67) acknowledged change might be necessary. 

“It might take a legislative solution,” she said. “In 2027, if the state agencies are failing to act, we need to look at this.”

Driskell has not yet stated official plans for a new bill, but it’s action Vasser says she wants to see soon to keep moms and babies from the setbacks she and Dylan now face for a lifetime. 

Emerald Morrow is an investigative reporter with 10 Tampa Bay News. Like her on Facebook. You can also email her at emorrow@10tampabay.com.