"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing" Edmund Burke, 18th century Philospher."A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong gives it a superficial appearance of it being right." Thomas Paine
"The welfare of humanity is always the alibi of tyrants." Albert Camus
"Choice is the essence of ethics: if there were no choice there would be no ethics, no good, no evil; good and evil have meaning only insofar as man is free to choose." Margaret Thatcher, March 14, 1977
“It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.” ― Upton Sinclair
Explaining the Cause
I am a practicing obstetrician who is a strong supporter of patients rights to informed consent and refusal. I believe a patient has the right to choose her own path given true and not skewed informed consent. Following that tenet, just as a woman should be able to choose to have an elective c/section she should be able to choose not to have one, as well. The American system of hospital based obstetric practice has been eroding those choices for women for quite some time. Due to concerns of economics, expediency and fears of litigation women are being coerced to make choices that may not be in their best interest.
I have had a long relationship collaborating with midwives and find the midwifery model of care to be evidenced based and successful. I was well trained at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in the mid 80's to perform breech deliveries, twin deliveries, operative vaginal deliveries and VBACs, and despite evidence supporting their continued value, hospitals are "banning" these options. Organized medicine is also doing its best to restrict the availability of access to midwives.
Home birthing is not for everyone but informed choice is. Medical ethics dictates that doctors have a responsibility and a fiduciary duty to their patients to provide true, not skewed, informed consent and to respect patient autonomy in decision making. Countries with the best outcomes in birthing have collaboration between doctors and midwives. This is not what has been happening in the hospitals of America. Its time for a change and the return of common sense.
The midwifery model of care supports pregnancy as a normal function of the female body and gives a legitimate and reasonable alternative to the over-medicalized model of birth that dominates our culture. Through this blog I hope to do my part to illuminate what is wrong with our maternity care system and what is right with it. I do not expect all to agree and that is OK. We must all understand that given honest data it is not always reasonable to expect two people to come to the same conclusion. Our differences should be respected.
Royal College of Ob/Gyn Supports Delayed Cord Clamping
The RCOG recommends that the time at which the cord is clamped should be recorded. Early cord clamping is defined as immediately or within the first 30 seconds. The cord should not be clamped earlier than is necessary, based on the clinical assessment of the situation. Evidence suggests that delayed cord clamping (more than 30 seconds) may benefit the neonate in reducing anaemia and particularly the preterm neonate, by allowing time for transfusion of placental blood to the new born infant which can provide an additional 30% blood volume. In the preterm infant (less than 37 +0 weeks) this may reduce the need for transfusion and reduce intraventricular haemorrhage. Delayed cord clamping does not appear to increase the risk of PPH. The timing of cord clamping needs to be made by the doctor or other attendant in the light of the clinical situation. Early clamping may be required if there is postpartum haemorrhage, placenta or vasa praevia, there is a tight nuchal cord, or the baby is asphyxiated and requires immediate resuscitation
. April 2011
The International Federation of Obstetrics and Gynecology and the World Health Organization no longer recommend immediate cord clamping as a component of active management. Dr. F
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if the baby is asphyxiated it needs its only source of oxygen intact! still, a step in the right direction.
ReplyDeleteAbundant...thanks for your comment. My guess is they are talking about the severly asphyxiated infant where there is no tone or respiratory effort in the baby and there is no pulse pressure in the cord. Although rare, I have seen this and those are the babies where the placental transfer of oxygen and volume has ceased and can benefit from a full NICU team. Dr. F
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