A Manoa woman is suing a naturopathic doctor who delivered her baby nearly two years ago, claiming the doctor acted negligently and caused her son to suffer permanent brain injury.

Margaret Drake filed a lawsuit Monday claiming negligence on the part of naturopathic doctor Lori G. Kimata, her company Sacred Healing Arts Center and her assistant Kaja Gibbs.

Drake, 28, said she chose natural childbirth when she was pregnant with her son Makaio.

“It’s definitely becoming more well known and accepted and (is) advertised as a safe option, with people who know what they’re doing,” Drake said at a news conference Tuesday.

Kimata did not respond to requests Tuesday for comment.

Drake’s lawyer, Richard Turbin, said the case underscores the need to require specific training for naturopaths and to allow midwives to be licensed in Hawaii so they can perform home births.

Drake said she hired Kimata as a midwife to supervise the delivery of her son, based on referrals from friends who had undergone natural childbirth and on information on the Sacred Healing Arts Center website.

According to her lawsuit, Drake said she notified Kimata on the evening of July 3, 2011, that she had started leaking amniotic fluid and that her contractions had begun. She said Kimata and Gibbs arrived at her home the next morning.

Drake said on the advice and direction of Kimata, she started pushing to deliver her baby on the afternoon of July 5 and gave birth that night, eight hours later.

She said her son was born limp, showed signs that he needed medical attention and was taken by ambulance to Kapiolani Medical Center in respiratory distress.

At the hospital, Drake said, Kimata gave the doctors inaccurate information, including that Drake’s water broke just three hours before delivery and that she had been in labor for three to four hours.

She said Kimata also told the doctors that Makaio went limp after he was born and that he was given oxygen. Drake said Makaio was not given oxygen.

Turbin said Kimata should have taken Drake to the hospital for an emergency Caesarean section. He said Kimata did not know that Makaio was in respiratory distress because she did not use a fetal heart monitor during the delivery.

Turbin said Makaio suffers from permanent brain injury due to a lack of oxygen at birth. The child cannot sit up, and specialized care for him could cost hundreds of thousands of dollars over his lifetime, he said.

Turbin said he believes there is a need for alternative medicine options in Hawaii and that naturopathic doctors are filling that need. But he said the options need to be safe.

The state does license naturopathic doctors but does not require special licensing, certification, special or continuing education requirements for them to perform childbirths.

“One of the problems is lack of insurance. There’s no requirement that naturopaths who engage in obstetrics have insurance,” Turbin said.

Hawaii does not license midwives, which means it is illegal for them to perform home births here, Turbin said. He said the state Legislature should consider licensing midwives, but that there are no current bills that would deal with that issue or tighten requirements for naturopathic doctors.