A midwife from Butler County was arrested yesterday on charges that her negligence caused the death of an infant during a breech birth in a family's Bloomfield home in 2002.

Judith Wilson, 45, of Portersville, was to be arraigned in City Court last night on charges of involuntary manslaughter, child endangerment and practicing midwifery without a license.

The infant, Isaac Daley, was delivered Nov. 19, 2002, in the family room of the home of his parents, Jonathan and Heather Daley.

The baby died two days later of asphyxiation due to breech, or feet-first delivery, Dr. Bennet Omalu, the forensic neuropathologist at the Allegheny County coroner's office who performed the autopsy, testified at an open inquest in June.

Wilson was registered with the North American Registry of Midwives, an agency not recognized in Pennsylvania.

Certified nurse-midwives in Pennsylvania are licensed by the state boards of medicine and nursing. Wilson is not a certified nurse-midwife and is not licensed by the state Board of Medicine.

Wilson told police that she had been a midwife for 13 years and assisted in numerous births, including eight breech deliveries.

The Daleys insisted on using her services. They refused to go to a hospital, except for early-stage prenatal screenings with midwives at Allegheny General Hospital.

The couple has said that they oppose criminal charges against Wilson. Jonathan Daley, 26, of New Hampshire, and Heather, 24, of Rochester, N.Y., met as students at Carnegie Mellon University.

The couple said that Wilson assured them that the pregnancy was progressing normally.

Shortly after Wilson arrived at their home around 10:30 a.m., the labor process, which already had been under way, rapidly picked up.

When the child's foot appeared, the Daleys testified, Wilson asked whether they wanted to go to a hospital. West Penn Hospital was but a few blocks away, but Heather Daley said no.

For the next hour and 40 minutes, Wilson attempted to untangle the baby, still in the birthing canal.

Omalu testified that Wilson's efforts caused more harm to the infant. Isaac's brain was swollen by more than 30 percent, and he suffered bruises to his abdominal area.

Coroner Dr. Cyril H. Wecht, in recommending last year that charges be filed against Wilson, said she was inept from the onset of labor, through the discovery that the baby had traversed feet-first through the birth canal, to the end when she failed to administer proper resuscitative techniques.

Paramedics who were called said Isaac was not breathing and had no pulse when they arrived. They said Wilson told them that there had been no problems during the birth.

An affidavit supporting Wilson's arrest said that an unidentified doctor, contracted by the district attorney's office, had reviewed records of the case and determined that Isaac could have survived had Heather Daley been taken to a hospital.

"Any attempt to deliver a footling breech presentation vaginally is viewed as absolutely contrary to current medical practice," the doctor is quoted in the affidavit.

There was adequate time for the mother to be transferred to West Penn Hospital or a similar facility to allow a Caesarean section to be performed, which could have saved the infant's life, the doctor said.