Born in the USA (50 page)

19
. I was contacted by the nurse-midwife, had lengthy discussions with her and other home-birth midwives in New Jersey, reviewed her records, and spoke with administrators on the state medical board.

20
. ACOG Statement of Policy, “Lay Midwifery,” February 2006.

21
. The midwife contacted me and I had long discussions with her and other midwives in this state, reviewed records, and attended her state board hearing.

22
. See Wagner, “Global Witch Hunt.”

23
. I was contacted by the midwife and wrote a letter to a newspaper in Las Vegas and continued the contact with this and other midwives in the area throughout the case.

24
. W. H. Pearse, past president of ACOG, wrote in the ACOG publication
Obstetrics and Gynecology News
1, no. 1 (1977), that home delivery is maternal trauma and child abuse. This statement was repeated in 1992 when another past president of ACOG, Dr. Keith Russell, was quoted as saying, “Home birth is child abuse in its earliest form” (P. Warrick, “Midwives to Leave Home: Denied Malpractice Insurance, Women Who Assist Home Births Face Two Choices: Go Establishment, or Go Underground,”
Los Angeles Times
, April 28, 1992).

25
. G. Judson, “An American Midwife on Trial: With Less Footing Than a Stork, She Fights to Deliver in the Home,”
New York Times
, November 4, 1995.

26
. For further information on the federal approval of direct-entry midwifery training, contact Susan Hodges, director of Citizens for Midwifery, e-mail:
[email protected]
.

27
. I have been in contact with the midwives involved and their lawyers.

28
. I have been in contact with the midwives involved and their lawyers.

29
. In Vermont, I attended a state legislative hearing on a new midwifery law (which passed) declaring that direct-entry midwifery is not the practice of medicine. In Kansas, a case came before the Kansas supreme court in which the opinion of the court was that midwifery is not the practice of medicine.

30
. In 1999, a direct-entry home birth midwife in California, Alison Osborn, was arrested for practicing medicine without a license. California Medical Quality Hearing Panel, Office of Administrative Hearings case number I M 9883794.
The quotation is from pp. 14–16 of the judge's decision. The judge dismissed the case against Alison Osborn.

31
. Van Olphen-Fehr,
Diary of a Midwife
, pp. 8, 218.

32
. I was contacted by the family and by their lawyers, reviewed the case, and followed the progress of the litigation to its end.

33
. For more information on the case in Utah, contact National Advocates for Pregnant Women, 39 West 19th Street, New York, NY, 10011; telephone (212) 255–9252; e-mail:
[email protected]
.

SIX. WHERE TO BE BORN

1
.  The cases discussed in this chapter are based on personal communications from midwives, women, and their families, and sometimes from the midwives' attorneys.

2
.  For more information on ways in which midwives and women birthing out of hospital are attacked by the authorities, including police, see M. Wagner, “A Global Witch Hunt,”
Lancet
346 (1995): 1020–22. Also see D. Korte, “Midwives on Trial,”
Mothering
, Fall 1995, pp. 53–59; and J. Mitford, “Teach Midwifery, Go to Jail,”
San Francisco Chronicle
, October 21, 1990.

3
.  ACOG Statement of Policy as issued by the Executive Board, May 1975.

4
.  C. Burnett et al., “Home Delivery and Neonatal Mortality in North Carolina,”
Journal of the American Medical Association
244 (1980): 2741–45; S. J. Meyers et al., “Unlicensed Midwifery Practice in Washington State,”
American Journal of Public Health
80 (1990): 726–28.

5
.  ACOG,
Guidelines for Perinatal Care
(Washington, D.C.: ACOG, 2002), pp. 125–26.

6
.  See M. Wagner, “Fish Can't See Water: The Need to Humanize Birth,”
International Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics
75, supplement (2001): s25–37.

7
.  For a detailed exploration of the idea that men have “womb envy” and are afraid of women's unique childbearing gift, see R. S. McElvaine,
Eve's Seed: Biology, the Sexes, and the Course of History
(New York: McGraw-Hill, 2001).

8
.  McElvaine,
Eve's Seed
.

9
.  Personal communication from a number of practicing obstetricians.

10
. For a thorough review of the scientific evidence on ABCs, see P. Stephenson et al.,
Alternative Birth Centers in Illinois: A Resource Guide for Policy Makers
(Chicago: University of Illinois at Chicago Center for Research on Women and Gender, and the Health and Medicine Policy and Research Group, 1995).

11
. J. P. Rooks et al., “Outcomes of Care in Birth Centers: The National Birth Center Study,”
New England Journal of Medicine
321, no. 26 (1989): 1804–11.

12
. 
E. Feldman and M. Hurst, “Outcomes and Procedures in Low Risk Births: A Comparison of Hospital and Birth Centre Settings,”
Birth and Family Journal
14, no. 1 (1987): 7–10; G. Baruffi et al., “Investigation of Institutional Differences in Primary Cesarean Birth Rates,”
Journal of Nurse-Midwifery
35, no. 35 (1990): 274–81; U. Waldenstrom and C. Nilsson, “Women's Satisfaction with Birth Centre Care: A Randomized Controlled Study,”
Issues in Perinatal Care
20, no. 1 (1993): 3–13.

13
. Stephenson et al.,
Alternative Birth Centers in Illinois
.

14
. Personal communication, German Midwifery Association.

15
. Personal communication from many Japanese midwives and visits to Japanese birth houses and to the National Institute of Public Health in Tokyo.

16
. The director of the birth center showed me this letter.

17
. The National Association of Childbearing Centers' Web site is
www.birth-centers.org
.

18
. G. Judson, “An American Midwife on Trial: With Less Footing Than a Stork, She Fights to Deliver in the Home,”
New York Times
, November 4, 1995.

19
. A. Durand, “The Safety of Home Birth: The Farm Study,”
American Journal of Public Health
82 (1992): 450–53; W. Schramm et al., “Neonatal Mortality in Missouri Home Births,”
American Journal of Public Health
77, no. 8 (1987): 930–35; M. W. Hinds, G. H. Bergeisen, and D. T. Allen, “Neonatal Outcome in Planned vs. Unplanned Out-of-Hospital Births in Kentucky,”
Journal of the American Medical Association
253, no. 11 (1985): 1578–82; P. A. Murphy and J. Fullerton, “Outcomes of Intended Home Births in Nurse-Midwifery Practice: A Prospective Descriptive Study,”
Obstetrics and Gynecology
92, no. 3 (1992): 461–70; O. Olsen, “Meta-Analysis of the Safety of Home Birth,”
Birth
24, no. 1 (1997): 4–16.

20
. J. Pang et al., “Outcomes of Planned Home Births in Washington State: 1989–1996,”
Obstetrics and Gynecology
100, no. 2 (2002): 253–59.

21
. The fact that in Washington State nurses cannot and physicians do not attend home births is detailed in a letter dated May 9, 2002, from the Midwives Association of Washington State (the state's nongovernmental organization of midwives) to Dr. Rowles and the Perinatal Advisory Committee (which is part of the state government). The letter was a clarification to the state about why it is so important for there to be midwives in Washington willing to attend planned home births so that women can have this legitimate choice.

22
. Quotation from Pang et al., “Outcomes of Planned Home Births in Washington,” p. 257. See Meyers et al., “Unlicensed Midwifery Practice in Washington State.”

23
. Quotation from Pang et al., “Outcomes of Planned Home Births in Washington,” p. 257. The two studies showing a fifty times higher risk of baby
death if the home birth was unplanned are Meyers et al., “Unlicensed Midwifery Practice in Washington State”; and Burnett et al., “Home Delivery and Neonatal Mortality in North Carolina.”

24
. L. Cawthon,
Planned Home Births: Outcomes among Medicaid Women in Washington State
, Report 7.93 (Olympia, Wash.: Office of Research and Data Analysis, Washington State Department of Social and Health Services, 1996).

25
. Pang et al., “Outcomes of Planned Home Births in Washington State,” p. 255.

26
. O. Olsen, “Meta-Analysis of the Safety of Home Birth.”

27
. Pang et al., “Outcomes of Planned Home Births in Washington State,” p. 259.

28
. Editorial in the
New York Times
, reprinted in the
International Herald Tribune
, October 3, 2002.

29
. K. Johnson and B. Daviss, “A Prospective Study of Planned Home Births by Certified Professional Midwives in North America,”
British Medical Journal
330, no. 7505 (2005): 1416.

30
. J. P. Bruner, S. B. Drummond, A. L. Meenan, and I. M Gaskin, “All-Fours Maneuver for Reducing Shoulder Dystocia during Labor,”
Journal of Reproductive Medicine
43 (1998): 439–43.

31
. S. Chauhan et al., “Cesarean Section for Suspected Fetal Distress: Does the Decision–Incision Time Make a Difference?”
Journal of Reproductive Medicine
42, no. 6 (1997): 347–52.

32
. W. H. Pearse, past president of ACOG, wrote in the ACOG publication
Obstetrics and Gynecology News
1, no. 1 (1977), that home delivery is maternal trauma and child abuse. This statement was repeated in 1992 when another past president of ACOG, Dr. Keith Russell, was quoted as saying, “Home birth is child abuse in its earliest form” (P. Warrick, “Midwives to Leave Home: Denied Malpractice Insurance, Women Who Assist Home Births Face Two Choices: Go Establishment, or Go Underground,”
Los Angeles Times
, April 28, 1992).

33
. J. van Olphen-Fehr,
Diary of a Midwife: The Power of Positive Childbearing
(Westport, Conn.: Bergin & Garvey, 1998), p. 116. In addition to excellent descriptions of many home births in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, the book includes many insights into maternity politics growing out of the author's involvement in home birth politics in Virginia. In addition to urging you to read this book, I highly recommend a second book by another home-birth midwife: P. Vincent,
Baby Catcher: Chronicles of a Modern Midwife
(New York: Scribner, 2002). This book contains wonderful descriptions of many home births in California.

34
. Van Olphen-Fehr,
Diary of a Midwife
, pp. 155–62.

35
. 
ACOG news release, “Home Births Double Risk of Newborn Death,” July 31, 2002.

36
. Reuters News Service, “Neonates More Likely to Die If Born at Home or If Home Delivery Was Attempted,” August 2, 2002; John O'Neil, “Vital Signs: At Risk, Weighing Odds and Babies,”
New York Times
, August 6, 2002.

37
. See Rapid Responses to Johnson and Daviss, “Prospective Study of Planned Home Births with Certified Professional Midwives,” posted at
www.bmj.com
.

38
. See the Web site
www.cdc.gov/nchs
.

SEVEN. RIGHTS AND WRONGS

1
.  For more information on cases of litigation following Cytotec (misoprostol) induction involving dead or brain-damaged babies or dead women, see M. Wagner, “Adverse Events Following Misoprostol Induction of Labor,”
Midwifery Today
71 (Autumn 2004): 9–12.

2
.  ACOG news release, “Nation's Obstetrical Care Endangered by Growing Liability Insurance Crisis,” May 6, 2002.

3
.  ACOG news release, “Nation's Obstetrical Care Endangered by Growing Liability Insurance Crisis.”

4
.  ACOG news release, “Nation's Obstetrical Care Endangered by Growing Liability Insurance Crisis.”

5
.  P. E. Steiner and C. C. Lushbaugh, “Maternal Pulmonary Embolism by Amniotic Fluid as a Cause of Obstetric Shock and Unexpected Deaths in Obstetrics,”
Journal of the American Medical Association
117 (1941): 1245–54, 1341–45.

6
.  T. Chard and M. Richards,
Benefits and Hazards of the New Obstetrics
(London: Heinemann, 1977).

7
.  F. Geoghegan and M. O'Driscoll, “Amniotic Fluid Embolism,”
Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology of the British Empire
71 (1964): 673; M. Gregory and E. Clayton, “Amniotic Fluid Embolism,”
Obstetrics and Gynecology
42 (1973): 236.

8
.  M. Morgan, “Amniotic Fluid Embolism,”
Anaesthesia
34 (1979): 20–32.

9
.  For a detailed analysis of the faulty methodology of Morgan's and Clark's papers, see M. Wagner, “From Caution to Certainty: Hazards in the Formation of Evidence-Based Practice. A Case Study on Evidence for an Association between the Use of Uterine Stimulant Drugs and Amniotic Fluid Embolism,”
Paediatric and Perinatal Epidemiology
19, no. 2 (2005): 173–76.

10
. S. Clark, “New Concepts of Amniotic Fluid Embolism: A Review,”
Obstetric and Gynecology Survey
45 (1990): 360–68.

11
. ACOG,
Prolog: Obstetrics
, 3rd ed. (Washington, D.C.: ACOG, 1993), p. 94.

12
. 
M. Wagner, “Off-Label Use of Drugs in Obstetrics—A Cautionary Tale,”
British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology
112 (2005): 266–68.