----- Original Message -----
Sent: Friday, April 26, 2002 6:34
PM
Subject: VBAC feedback
Dear list
A couple of weeks ago I asked if any of you
had seen or heard of manual checking of scars following VBAC.
I collated your responses, copied the relevant
passage from "Effective Guide...".
and wrote a letter to go with it all, and
posted the lot to the doctor involved.
He telephoned me at home a few days later,
actually on the weekend, and we had a very lengthy conversation.
He was a bit taken aback at the force of some of your comments!
On balance, I feel the conversation was
productive and was not acrimonious. I respected the fact that he phoned
me at home rather than make a verbal assault in the workplace, and it gave us
both the opportunity to express our opinions in a neutral
zone.
I have worked with this doctor (among others)
for the past 11 years, and we have had one or two disagreements in that time,
without it ever becoming nasty, so I was happy that this was the
same.
He did say that he would no longer manually
check scars - so I guess you could say that the result was a positive
one! And I said that I respected his decision to change his practice in
light of evidence etc..
It was an interesting exercise for me, as even
after all this time (23 years) as a midwife, I still found it took a great
deal of courage to actually confront the power of the medical
profession. (Why???)
Anyway, thank you for all your feedback - none
of my colleagues had heard of this procedure either - though in all fairness,
my research has shown me that it was indeed considered normal practice
once!
Happy IMD to you all. I shall be
celebrating with a long-overdue, childfree weekend alone with my
husband!
Sue C
