As Out-Of-Hospital Births Rise, Lack Of Regulations Allows Midwives To Dodge Fatal Mistakes
A nine-month investigation shows how states have failed to safeguard an increasingly popular practice — deliveries in homes or birth centers overseen primarily by midwives without medical training or malpractice insurance. Other news on maternal care examines how midwives could reduce maternal mortality, questions the benefits of bed rest, and looks at attempts to reduce C-sections.
Columbus Dispatch:
Failure To Deliver: Burgeoning Industry Fails To Hold Midwives Accountable
Across the country, midwives can dodge punishment for fatal mistakes, leaving empty-armed parents with few avenues for justice and a lifetime of loss. Some states let midwives practice without rules or oversight. Others regulate them but rarely revoke credentials. Even in states with rules, some midwives openly break them. Dozens of U.S. midwives practice unlawfully, including a top official at the North American Registry of Midwives, the certifying body of the largest group of non-nurse midwives in the country. (Le Coz, Salman and Sherman, 11/25)
Columbus Dispatch:
Ohio Among More Than A Dozen States That Don't Regulate Non-Nurse Midwives
The United States has failed to keep pace with the rising popularity of out-of-hospital deliveries, which until a decade ago accounted for just 0.8 percent of U.S. births but have nearly doubled since then to 1.5 percent. During that time frame, more than a dozen states have passed laws recognizing, and in many cases regulating, the biggest group of out-of-hospital delivery providers — direct-entry midwives. ...Of the more than 400,000 out-of-hospital births attended by midwives in the past decade, nearly 60 percent involved those not certified as nurses, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Le Coz, Salman and Sherman, 11/26)
The CT Mirror:
Midwives Could Be Key To Reversing Maternal Mortality Trends
Despite the fact that an estimated 85 percent of women are appropriate for midwife care, midwives attend about 11 percent of births in Connecticut, said Holly Kennedy, professor of midwifery at Yale School of Nursing. By contrast, about half of all babies in England are delivered by midwives, according to National Health Services statistics. Kennedy sees a direct correlation between lower use of midwives and higher maternal mortality. (Heubeck, 11/25)
NPR:
Bed Rest Is Still Often Prescribed During Pregnancy, Despite Proven Risks
The couch is dark brown corduroy with lumpy cushions. There are a few telltale smears of food, maybe yogurt or a banana, and some crumbs here and there. It's a well-loved piece of furniture. Margaret Siebers plops herself down in the center and reaches out to baby daughter Frances, who climbs onto her mother's lap to breastfeed. "This is where I spent several months," says Siebers, with a shrug. Her 4-year-old, Violet, runs around nearby. "I could come downstairs and sit on the couch." (Kodjak, 11/26)
NPR:
Pilot Project To Reduce C-Sections Put To The Test By A Twin's Difficult Birth
The tiny hand and forearm slipped out too early. Babies are not delivered shoulder first. Dr. Terri Marino, an obstetrician in the Boston area who specializes in high-risk deliveries, tucked it back inside the boy's mother. "He was trying to shake my hand and I was like, 'I'm not having this — put your hand back in there,' " Marino would say later, after all 5 pounds, 1 ounce of the baby lay wailing under a heating lamp. (Bebinger, 11/24)
