Midwife charged in DC? Karen Carr, CPM...

[Anonymous]

Continuing my above post. Anyway, I don't think either option is a good one and THAT is what we should all be upset about. I should not have to fight for evidenced-based care or have no choice but to see an OB with a 30%+ csection rate. I should not be forced to have an induction shortly after 40 weeks or be forced into a csection (bc there is noone who can deliver) with anything but the absolute perfect pregnancy and presentation. That said, I should be comfortable when choosing a homebirth that I have educated, experienced midwives who who are well received at hospital transfers and who have to answer when things go wrong.

I for one am glad I am done having babies so I dont have to make this choice again.

[Anonymous]

Oh and my hospital births were in the past three years at GW. And yes, they were both great unmedicated births with as few interventions as they were willing to accommodate me on,'but I had to be very very aware of what was going on at all times and to speak up, sometimes repeatedly, to get what I wanted. And there was some eye rolling.

[Anonymous]

Thought - are epidurals like homebirths? Mostly, they turn out just fine, but at a basic level, is it choosing something for your comfort that may harm your baby (or at the very least, certainly isn't going to have good effects on the baby)? Thoughts?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thought - are epidurals like homebirths? Mostly, they turn out just fine, but at a basic level, is it choosing something for your comfort that may harm your baby (or at the very least, certainly isn't going to have good effects on the baby)? Thoughts?

That one was already debated waaaaay back in this thread. That would make a good new thread though.

[Anonymous]

Kojo Namdi show on midwifery today:

http://thekojonnamdishow.org/shows/2011-05-16/midwifery-our-region

[Anonymous]

There is going to be a very large birth center opening up in Chantilly run by ------ CPMs. Their site just went live.

The site is dense with info on CPMs and birth centers. Go look.

http://novabirthcenter.com/Default.aspx

[Anonymous]

This site is dense with info about CPMs too:

http://www.kentuckymidwives.com/Headlines.html

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This site is dense with info about CPMs too:

http://www.kentuckymidwives.com/Headlines.html

We love you Amy...not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The WP article is crap. The stats given by the OB from the ACOG is based on a study that was debunked as soon as it came out. Anybody who draws conclusions based on a news article alone is a fool.

With the number of births KC has attended, there are going to be sad outcomes. It's almost a statistical certainty.

Yes most things written by the WP are crap, but again no one has stood up to say that they were there or actually knows what happened- so everyone can speculate all they want, but Ms Carr knows the truth along with others who were there. Has anyone given any thought to why she decided to plea out instead of go to court? Possibly its all those little truths that we dont have access to that brought her to her senses and she opted for her time served instead of going to trial. And for all you that think she is so wonderful, why would you think these convictions would stop her from being a midwife now - she didnt mind breaking the law before by practicing without certifications- whats to stop her now?

No...it's because it meant no jail time. If you knew anything about the judicial system, you would realize how common that is as well as how little truth actually matters.

Your logic is foolish. 55 year old caucasian grandmothers who are midwives rarely go to jail in our country. She pled because the evidence was stacked up against her. I have a friend who were forcibly raped, yet the guy got off with simple non-felonious assault plea (he was a college aged white caucasian male in VA). Please tell me in your rosy world that whites go to jail as much as blacks and hispanics? You're an idiot if you think Karen didn't get lucky with her plea. Had she been an African American man charged with a small amount of drugs, she'd have gone to jail for decades.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This site is dense with info about CPMs too:

http://www.kentuckymidwives.com/Headlines.html

Except, in VA, CPMs are licensed and regulated by the state and the Board of Medicine, unlike Kentucky.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This site is dense with info about CPMs too:

http://www.kentuckymidwives.com/Headlines.html

Except, in VA, CPMs are licensed and regulated by the state and the Board of Medicine, unlike Kentucky.

Right, except when they decide purposely to buck the system and go unlicensed. Then you just have Karen Carr who some how manages to get women to donate money to her for her defense and her phone ringing off the hook for her to provide her amazing services.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think what everyone is missing is that Karen Carr is one bad midwife giving home-birth and midwifery a bad name. She takes to many risks, accepts to many clients, and takes to long to call for help when more medical attention is needed. It makes me very sad that midwives are supporting her. Yes, she is very knowledgeable but that makes her poor judgement even worse because she should know better!

Yes, and as a student midwife in the DC area, I'm wondering how far this case has taken us back in terms of people accepting and supporting the work of midwives? Karen Carr did more than hurt a few families with her negligence, rather she's hurt and entire group of other midwives.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think what everyone is missing is that Karen Carr is one bad midwife giving home-birth and midwifery a bad name. She takes to many risks, accepts to many clients, and takes to long to call for help when more medical attention is needed. It makes me very sad that midwives are supporting her. Yes, she is very knowledgeable but that makes her poor judgement even worse because she should know better!

Yes, and as a student midwife in the DC area, I'm wondering how far this case has taken us back in terms of people accepting and supporting the work of midwives? Karen Carr did more than hurt a few families with her negligence, rather she's hurt and entire group of other midwives.

Excellent point. Does anyone who works in the birth arena know how this is affecting women's decisions currently? Are clients who were planning a home birth switching to hospitals? Are CNMs seeing increased business as people move away from CPMs? Or are things just going along the same as before?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think what everyone is missing is that Karen Carr is one bad midwife giving home-birth and midwifery a bad name. She takes to many risks, accepts to many clients, and takes to long to call for help when more medical attention is needed. It makes me very sad that midwives are supporting her. Yes, she is very knowledgeable but that makes her poor judgement even worse because she should know better!

Yes, and as a student midwife in the DC area, I'm wondering how far this case has taken us back in terms of people accepting and supporting the work of midwives? Karen Carr did more than hurt a few families with her negligence, rather she's hurt and entire group of other midwives.

Excellent point. Does anyone who works in the birth arena know how this is affecting women's decisions currently? Are clients who were planning a home birth switching to hospitals? Are CNMs seeing increased business as people move away from CPMs? Or are things just going along the same as before?

-8

It's a big deal for everybody locally. But, you also have to realize that a very, very, very tiny portion of women choose home birth in the US - somewhere in the 1% category and that midwives nationwide attend like 5-8% of births on average.

[Anonymous]

"The NICU is notorious for following non-evidence-based practices. For example, one family I worked with was only allowed to hold their preemie twins for 10 minutes a day, when ALL of the available evidence says long periods of skin-to-skin, kangaroo care improves preemies health. Kangaroo care has saved lives, but many NICUs don't allow it. Also there are practices regarding bottle vs. breast feeding, how to train preemies to latch onto the breast or prevent nipple confusion altogether, and feeding of formula vs. donated breastmilk and the use of the various human milk fortifiers that are not evidence-based, and parents really, really need to advocate for themselves on those things if they know what the evidence says."

OK, whew, I thought you were having to correct the doctor's about their medical management of the babies. Of course nutrition is extremely important and skin-to-skin touch is therapeutic, but not knowing your client's situation (are you a doulah or lactation consultant by the way?) there is no way to know what was going on. Perhaps the baby had an ET tube that was positional and the baby was de-satting while being held. Perhaps his/her IV's were in danger of infiltrating. Perhaps the baby was hypothermic/hypoglycemic/hypoxic.
There are a multitude of medical reasons that could have explained why the baby needed to go back to the isolette/warmer.
These are things that a doula type individual would not be aware of .