Her water was “leaking”, and she was not in active labor. Experienced mothers KNOW what active labor feels like - trust me - you CANNOT be mistaken. As for the risk of infection - some doctors are more cautious than others. My OB was a pioneer in this field and was able to delay labor for a mother whose water broke for a MONTH! (Dr. Postelwaite).
Now, if you want to hear something crazy — try being in active labor with your third child with contractions coming every 2 minutes, IN a hospital (with what I assume a faulty fetal monitor) and being told they are going to send you home for breakfast!!!! And getting angry with you when you throw up because they forced you to drink orange juice while in ACTIVE LABOR!!! I was ready to just say - “F this” and deliver my baby myself. Thank GOD the shift changed at 7 a.m. and my NEW nurse hurriedly called an intern to come break my water! The intern makes it no further than the doorway of my room and says - what do you mean “INDUCE” by breaking her water are you people BLIND??? Please note that my OB was LIVID when he found out they had been lying to him on the phone all night.
You most certainly CAN be mistaken about fetal distress, and the common sense response is to hook up with a fetal monitor immediately. If I had a diagnosis of Down's, was 40-something and several thousand miles from my regular obstetrician, and leaking before my due date, I would not stop to give a speech.
I much prefer to believe the reporters are just repeating a story that never happened quite that way.