Reply to Evelyn Muhlhan - another homebirth midwife bites the dust?

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Reply to "Evelyn Muhlhan - another homebirth midwife bites the dust?"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]This is not really about Evelyn, it's about reproductive rights, including where a woman has a right to give birth.

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This is a difficult question. One of the charges against her comes from a VBAC at home that resulted in rupture and infant death.

Should a woman be allowed to attempt a VBAC at home? I don't know. There is another party involved, a term baby. [/quote]

I'm sorry, but no, it's not a difficult question. You don't get to make decisions about my body in the interest of my baby. [/quote]

If you want to convince the many people who disagree with you, just stating your view is unlikely to do it. I'm pro-choice in many ways but a full term baby is not the mother's to dispose of as she sees fit. Maybe the science will show that home VBACs are safe enough that she gets to make the call. That's fine.

But let's say there was a condition for which homebirth led to infant death 20 percent of the time versus 1 percent of the time in a hospital.  The baby has enough rights that I would ask the government to forbid homebirth in that scenario.

Children are people who have rights the government protects. Parents get a lot of leeway, yes. Parents have the right to make risky calls. But above a certain risk level, the government intervenes. A full term baby is not an embryo, it is a person. [/quote]

What about the scenario where it is safer to have a baby a home?  This is true in the case of meconium aspiration, which is three times as likely to occur in a hospital setting than at home.  How come our government isn't taking up the cause and insisting that women who are risk for meconium aspiration deliver at home?  There are dozens of other interventions and complications that are much more likely to occur in a hospital setting, yet no one ever talks about the safety of homebirth.

The reality is that there is a massive political machine at work here.  Doctors, even when their protocols lead to greater problems or are not evidence-based, are championed as the ultimate life-saver and have enormous political, financial, and societal resources.  The bottom line is that I never want a doctors opinion for my health to supercede my right to decide which type of healthcare to pursue - for myself OR for my children.

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We agree that there must be a high level of patient choice. I think a non-epidural birth, where possible, is the safest route but I would never forbid other women from getting epidurals.  Most women choose hospital births, obviously. We can say that doctors mislead, and sometimes they do, but I blame women for failing to educate themselves.

I also agree that standard delivery protocol sometimes takes into account what the docs want over what is best for mother and child. I would love to fix that. It doesn't change my view that some homebirths are unreasonably unsafe for the baby. [/quote]

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