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]There's two issues being conflated here.  Women have the right to choose to give birth at home, regardless of the circumstances, or that in some cases, it is ill-advised.  Medical professionals (including midwives), on the other hand, [b]are expected to adhere to well-known standards of care. [/b] In certain situations, that can require them to insist that the patient give birth at a hospital, or decline to provide care if they refuse to leave the home.  Evelyn was suspended because of complaints that she failed to adhere to the standard of care.  She's not being prosecuted (to my knowledge) - she faces licensing ramifications because the she failed to comply with the licensing board's standard of care.

Short version - I suppose it was inevitable, but there's no reason this discussion needed to turn into a debate about the relative merits of home v. hospital birth.  [/quote]

According to whom?  Why does a doctor -- whose protocols are often based on liability issues, bad or ever-changing research, or personal opinions - get to dictate how a midwife must practice?  Just because doctors have come up with a "standard of care" does NOT mean that this is best course of action for every woman giving birth.  We deserve to make our own decisions and have the attendant of our choosing at our births, regardless of what ACOGs opinion is about various pregnancy or birth complications.

Evelyn was suspended because the doctors who witnessed these transfers got pissed off and jumped at the opportunity to take down an excellent, well-respected, highly-educated homebirth midwife.  These doctors have without doubt experienced some of these same exact tragic outcomes in their own practice, yet they are not turning in their licenses.  The reality of birth is that sometimes bad things happen - to midwives and doctors alike.  However, doctors will use those tragedies against the midwives.  It is insane and does not serve women at all, and encourages midwives to delay transport in potentially dire circumstances.   Futhermore, the board that suspended her license does not even consist of her peers -- no homebirth midwives (and if I remember correctly, no midwives at all!) sit on that board.  As with all other medical professionals, a provider should be reviewed by others who have the same credentials.

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