Well done, Tina.
I have been practising as a homebirth midwife for years, and this little
hiccough isnt going to stop me from serving women.
Of course its naive of me to assume that I would never be "sued"
(but then as a midwife and mother of 4 I also no assets worth taking in the
event of litigation!)
So I will carry on regardless!
We only aquired insurance to satisfy the ACMI anyway, as we were practicing
for years without it, so if the ACMI require us to have insurance to be able
to work within the hospital system, then maybe they should aquire it on our
behalf!
It will be interesting to see how all this unfolds.
*How timely too, that the government have just "closed the gap" for women to
now use the services of a private obstestrian in a private hospital and will
no longer be out of pocket!
I smell a rat!
It's just one long
battle..........................................................
Sheryl
----- Original Message -----
From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Cc: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>;
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Sunday, July 08, 2001 10:25 PM
Subject: Re: Homebirths in Peril and Midwifery Insurance
> In a message dated 7/07/01 12:30:35 PM AUS Eastern Standard Time,
> [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
>
> << The article was titled "Home births in peril as midwives lose insurance
> cover". It keeps sending out that same message about fear, danger and
> litigation around birth.
>
> What do homebirth midwives intend to do??
>
> Sue Cookson
> Homebirth Australia
> >>
>
> Hi all ozmider's.
>
> This situation distresses me greatly. As I see it, the problem is the huge
> lack of recognition and respect for midwifery as an autonomous profession,
> which I believe has far reaching implications for ALL women and midwives -
> not just MIPP and the homebirth community. The homebirth movement here is
> still considered a radical, questioning and an independent movement
outside
> of medical control and its always been a thorn in the obstetric side and
> subject to a great deal of attention, scrutiny and anticompetitive
behaviour.
>
> Historically we know that many of the improvements in maternity care have
> been born from the homebirth movement. So for all other midwives to then
hide
> their heads in the sand on this issue and to shrug it off as something
that
> only affects homebirth midwives and their clients is a HUGE mistake.
> Homebirth needs to exist for the benefit of ALL, not just the few that
choose
> it, because out of this movement we have another model by which to compare
> the obstetric model, and measures by which to demand greater
accountability
> from medical men and their machines and evidence for continued
improvements
> for mainstream maternity care. Once you recognise this it becomes apparent
> that the withdrawal of professional indemnity insurance from MIPP is just
the
> tip of the iceberg and actually represents the largest assault on the
> autonomy of midwifery this country has seen and THIS THEN AFFECTS ALL
> MIDWIVES AND ALL WOMEN - NOT JUST THE HOMEBIRTH COMMUNITY.
>
> Midwives please open your eyes and look 'outside of the square you live
in'
> and see the bigger picture !!! By insurers denying/refusing to insure
> midwives in private practice, is to effectively, slam the door shut on
> midwifery as an autonomous profession in this country, relegating
midwifery
> to be forever controlled by the medical fraternity. This has ripple
effects
> into EVERY other facet of midwifery practice. It will eventually effect
EVERY
> MIDWIFE in her capacity to work as a midwife 'with woman' as it
effectively
> undermines EVERY midwife's status and claim to autonomous practice as the
> health care professional that she is, irrespective of where she provides
> midwifery care. Further more, while the majority of midwives may work in
> hospitals and have their liability underwritten by state governments, many
> midwives also choose to have PI outside of this as well - independent of
> their employers interests! So to argue that this is an issue that just
> effects 80 midwives and the 1% of women who choose to birth at home in
this
> country is just ridiculous and will surely then see the demise of
midwifery
> in this country.
>
> This issue needs to be brought to the forefront and dealt with once and
for
> all. The ACMI needs to gather ALL its constituents together with their
> greatest allies - women - and demand to be heard in the halls of
parliament,
> news and media until the powers that be listen and cotton on to the great
> conspiracy that is denying Australian women and their families the right
to
> choose for themselves how, where and with whom they birth their children.
> Furthermore, midwives need to put their money where their mouths are and
get
> serious about their professional representation. This is not meant to be a
> criticism of the ACMI as it stands, but rather to say that, it can only do
so
> much with the resources and limited personnel that it has. The College
needs
> funds to invest in a good lawyer who can research these issues from the
point
> of law and justice, and funds to undertake through risk analysis of
providing
> midwifery care. How can the College continue to argue for what is right
and
> just - without the evidence to support it. Insurance companies would find
it
> difficult to refuse policy applications or charge outrageous premiums, if
the
> evidence was there in black and white to sink their arguments that
midwifery
> is "a highly litigious area". The College should be demanding proof of
that
> statement by David Brown, general manager of Guild Insurance and if not
> provided, then suing for defamation of the midwifery profession.
>
> OK OK I can hear you all now saying "wow Tina's really lost the plot this
> time". But how can powerful institutions keep getting away with slandering
> midwives and their profession without calls to put up or shut up. Christ,
the
> AMA president Karen Phelps hits the Federal Health Minister Michael
Woolridge
> with a threat of legal action after he questions her qualifications to
> practice medicine and its front page news in every newspaper and TV
channel
> in this country, right down to their menu and dessert choices at their
even
> more publicly viewed reconciliatory luncheon !!!!
>
> What a crock !!
>
>
> Part of the way to finding an answer has to be for ALL midwives to rally
> together for the sake of their professional wellbeing and for that of the
> women they serve and to support each other and DEMAND a better deal. The
SMH
> reports that there are some 70000 midwives in Australia with about 20 odd
> thousand practising. Well where are you all ??? I can't hear you. I can't
see
> you. The ACMI would be lucky to have a quarter of you as members. Nothing
> will change unless together as a recognisable force we try to change it.
>
> Yours in birth
> One pissed off
> Tina Pettigrew
>
> Aspiring Midwife
> Convenor, Aust. B Mid Student Collective
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