Midwives, Doulas, Regulated?

The best outcomes, based on gold-standard research studies, for midwife-attended births in hospitals, homes or birth centers are those with midwives who have extensive medical training and current skills up to date (very, very important). The licensing and accountability of midwives IS important if you want the best outcome for you and your baby. With most healthy, low-risk pregnant women things can go fine with a midwife with minimal training. The problems is that those midwives don't know what they don't know. Also, with a healthy, low-risk pregnancy unforeseen problems can arise that without someone properly trained with current skills up-to-date to handle it properly the results can be deadly. And not having malpractice insurance? Ludicrous! There is no provision for financial help for you or your baby if malpractice occurs. That seems very unfair. That being said, I know couples who choose to have the father deliver the baby without any medical practitioner around. One woman almost died this way. Another woman had two lovely, uneventful happy births this way. So, people's philosophies differ and their outcomes differ. I can't be on the side that would favor less regulation, though, because there are too many risks and horrendous outcomes that could have been avoided. And, those "home birth horror stories" should not be dismissed too quickly, either. This is also true of horrible hospital births. Much can be learned from those bad outcomes in both places and changes can be made to improve all outcomes. Not being too deeply entrenched in one philosophy or another seems important in affecting any positive change so that unnecessary deaths don't occur.

I think ALL Midwives should be licensed and regulated... not because of scary births gone wrong stories, but because OBs cannot then refuse to be a back-up for Midwives if they have a regulated status.

I think all CPMs/LMs should have a group regulation and schooling requirement and all CMNs should have another group of regulations that includes the same regulations of the CPMs, but also encompasses the Nursing/Master's in Nursing education they've received.

To do what is best for Moms and babies, OBs need to be SUPPORTIVE, not derisive, divisive and willfully negligent in refusing to admit Midwives have a huge part to play in the birthing process.

As far as malpractice - most states require both the Midwife and the birthing center to carry malpractice. Insurance companies should be regulated as well for Midwives who are Licensed under the new regulations, if it passes.

All I have to say is that many babies die every year when they're born in hospitals and no one is trying to tighten their restrictions! There are indicators as to when a mom should transfer to a hospital, and ultimately the mother chose to have the baby out of hospital and knew the risks of not being in one. Midwives in my state do have malpractice insurance, I think they should in all states.

In todays world, this baby should not have been born at a birth center.

More than 10 lbs.. breech?

MY midwife would have done a c-section.

In MN all midwives are licensed if they deliver at a birth center or hospital. All birth centers are right near hospitals and have set plans for emergencies.

I'd say that the mother and midwife made some bad decisions about the birth from the start. There is no excuse for having a breech delivery without a very set plan in case of a problem.

If only more governmental regulation would solve all of life's medical issues - we'd be in great shape.

Unfortunately that's not the case.

I think most people are smart enough to research the track record of these places for themselves.

I was just at a surgical center appointment (with mainstream surgeons) who do not carry malpractice insurance (they give you a notice).

No medical fascism . . . not that this is medical fascism but it's how we start down the slippery slope imho.

My kids were all born by way of a midwife. Two overseas, one @ U/M. And I had fallen preggers another time and was going to have a midwife through Providence. My U/M son ended up needing to be born Cesaerean. But it was all done through a hospital.