gloria typing whilebf but i actually do wwant the stats not to reply to this article but for those that want to see the studies fo themselves.
----- Original Message ----- From: "Gloria Lemay" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Thursday, September 22, 2005 8:36 AM Subject: Re: [ozmidwifery] Indigestion at breakfast.... > Dear Honey, don't worry about the content of the publicity----there is no > bad publicity. Engaging in slinging around stats won't further anything. > It's a sign of the emerging power of the midwives that the drs are doing > what they're doing. If you weren't a formidable threat, they'd just sit in > their offices and not say anything. The public is not stupid. They watch > more what you "do" and how you "be" than what you "say". . The real power > in moving mw forward is that so many women are so damaged. That can only > be tolerated so long. > > You'll have many positive, supportive letters printed in the press. At the > end of the day, society will move a little further in the cynicism about all > things pharmaceutical co dominated. The reason: it simply doesnt work. > Gloria > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Honey Acharya" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: <[email protected]> > Sent: Wednesday, September 21, 2005 3:11 PM > Subject: Re: [ozmidwifery] Indigestion at breakfast.... > > > > I'm getting sick of going round and round in circles with this debate. How > > do you reply to these people that think too many births end in emergencies > > for it to be safe and just don't understand why we don't need/want ob's > > and > > hospitals within 2 mins reach? That think if it means saving even one life > > we should not have the choice? > > > > Does anyone have some links to the best studies showing the evidence of > > safety of birth away from hospitals? ie free standing birth centres and > > homebirth > > I know I can wade thorugh the internet and find ones like the cochrane > > review, but I know that many of you may have them easily to hand, so if > > you > > can spare a minute to forward them I would be grateful. I am not receiving > > the majority of ozmid emails at the moment (not sure why) so could you cc > > my > > email address in the reply so that I actually get them. > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Much appreciated thankyou > > Honey Acharya > > Friends of the Birth Centre Townsville > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > > From: "Andrea Robertson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > To: <[email protected]> > > Sent: Thursday, September 22, 2005 7:05 AM > > Subject: [ozmidwifery] Indigestion at breakfast.... > > > > > > Hi everyone, > > > > This was not a good read over breakfast this morning. Miranda Devine is > > known for her right wing views, but this was almost too much to bear. > > Where > > do these dinosaurs live, and where do they get their stats from? > > > > Andrea > > > > PS She's thoughtfully included her email address..... > > > > ------------------------ > > > > > > Mum and baby are caught in the middle > > > > September 22, 2005 > > > > Midwives and obstetricians differ over the risks of birth centres away > > from > > hospitals, says Miranda Devine. > > > > IT WAS rather ironic when the two pregnant women starring in a story on > > ABC-TV this week about a new style of doctor-free natural birthing centres > > were rushed to hospital for the ultimate in medical interventions. > > > > At the beginning of The 7.30 Report story on Monday, one woman was sitting > > in a chair in the midwife-led birthing unit in Ryde, grimacing in pain > > from > > contractions. By the end of the story she had a cute little baby, but only > > after a 20-minute ambulance ride to Royal North Shore Hospital and an > > emergency caesarean. > > > > The other woman, was also transferred to hospital for an induction when > > her > > baby "refused to come". > > > > Advocates of the stand-alone, midwife-led model of birth units, segregated > > from hospitals, claimed this proved the model worked well. "The midwife > > has > > been able to recognise when there were problems or when the labour looked > > as if it was going to deviate from the normal," Sally Tracy, associate > > professor of midwifery practice development at the University of > > Technology, Sydney, said. > > > > But obstetricians are understandably unhappy about being expected to pick > > up the pieces at the last minute of a childbirth gone wrong, with the > > inevitable legal ramifications. > > > > It's ear trumpets at 40 paces as midwife groups and obstetricians bicker > > over the risks involved in setting up birth centres a distance apart from > > major hospitals. But the NSW Government is pressing ahead with plans to > > open more midwife-led birthing units, with two already open: in Ryde and > > in > > Belmont, near Newcastle. Home-birth trials are also in place. > > > > The Australian Medical Association complained this month that the Health > > Minister, John Hatzistergos, hadn't even consulted them about this radical > > change. As a result, the minister is meeting the association's NSW > > president, John Gullotta, today to discuss the new model, among other > > matters. Such are the sensitivities that Gullotta would not comment until > > after the meeting. > > > > But the association's obstetrics spokesman, Dr Andrew Pesce, a consultant > > obstetrician at Westmead Hospital, was happy to speak, minutes after > > delivering a healthy baby boy yesterday afternoon. He was keen to point > > out > > it was a vaginal delivery to a mother who had previously had a caesarean, > > thus demonstrating his non-interventionist credentials. > > > > He has come under heavy attack from midwife groups since he began speaking > > out on the new units. He and his "industrial organisation" are accused of > > fear-mongering because of a prospect the Medicare pie might eventually > > have > > to be shared with midwifes. > > > > But there is more than enough work around for the shrinking ranks of > > obstetricians, and this Federal Government is unlikely ever to fund > > midwife-only birth centres. > > > > Far from being alarmist, what Pesce has to say is reasonable. "We're not > > against midwife care or even midwife-led birthing centres . It's the > > segregated model of care we don't want . We don't want to be picking up > > disasters six hours later." > > > > Indeed. Why remove birthing centres from hospitals so that an ambulance > > ride is necessary in case of emergency, just to prove a point? > > > > A policy of universal, all-natural childbirth is wonderful if you can > > afford to lose a child or a mother along the way, as used to happen in > > Australia. A quick tour of a cemetery tells the story of our obstetric > > past > > when the death of mother or child, or both, in childbirth was far from > > uncommon, as were brain damage for the baby and permanent disability for > > the mother. > > > > No one wants to pathologise childbirth but nor should we kid ourselves it > > is risk-free, particularly with increased levels of obesity in women and a > > rapidly rising maternal age, both factors which can cause complications. > > > > In 1975, the median age of a first-time married mother was 24. By 2002 it > > had risen to 30.1, and in more affluent parts of Sydney it is even higher, > > matched by a rise in caesarean rates. > > > > The reality of childbirth in Africa, where medicalisation cannot come soon > > enough, is that one woman in 16 dies from complications in pregnancy and > > childbirth - more than half a million women every year, or one death a > > minute, according to the World Health Organisation. In Nigeria alone, as > > many as 800,000 women suffer from obstetric fistula, an injury caused by a > > difficult labour, that leaves a woman incontinent, and, in Nigeria, > > shunned > > by her community. > > > > Australia, by contrast, is one of the safest places to give birth in the > > world, according to the organisation. > > > > "Australian women are now 40 times less likely to die during pregnancy or > > childbirth than they were immediately before the Second World War, and > > perinatal death rates in 2004 are a third of 1972 rates," wrote doctors > > Caroline de Costa and Stephen Robson in a paper published last year in the > > Medical Journal of Australia. > > > > We can largely thank the "medicalisation" of childbirth for these > > advances. > > But, as seems to happen eventually with just about every human endeavour, > > the advances have been taken for granted and ideology has turned > > medicalisation into a dirty word. > > > > "In other areas of medicine, achievements of this magnitude would be an > > immense source of pride, yet obstetrics is perhaps the most criticised of > > all specialties," wrote de Costa and Robson. "Obstetricians have embraced > > evidence-based practice, and the onus should be on proponents of > > demedicalisation to prove their case. It should not be a heresy to ask > > whether an increase in maternal satisfaction is a fair and reasonable > > trade > > for a decrease, however slight, in safety for the baby. After all, our > > babies will have to live with the consequences." > > > > Instead, proponents of demedicalisation have politicised childbirth to > > such > > a ridiculous extent that learned papers on the subject are written > > invoking > > feminist theory and the writings of the French postmodernist and S&M > > aficionado, Michel Foucault. > > > > "Reflecting on practice to theorise empowerment for women: using > > Foucault's > > concepts" is one title in the Australian Journal of Midwifery. Using "a > > postmodern, feminist praxis approach", Kathleen Fahy of the University of > > Newcastle's school of nursing and midwifery examined "how power operates > > in > > the medical encounter with the childbearing woman". > > > > For Pesce, when he delivers a baby he is interested in only one outcome: a > > healthy mother and child. > > > > <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>[EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > > > ----- > > Andrea Robertson > > Birth International * ACE Graphics * Associates in Childbirth Education > > > > e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > web: www.birthinternational.com > > > > > > -- > > This mailing list is sponsored by ACE Graphics. > > Visit <http://www.acegraphics.com.au> to subscribe or unsubscribe. > > > > > > -- > > This mailing list is sponsored by ACE Graphics. > > Visit <http://www.acegraphics.com.au> to subscribe or unsubscribe. > > > > > -- > This mailing list is sponsored by ACE Graphics. > Visit <http://www.acegraphics.com.au> to subscribe or unsubscribe. > -- This mailing list is sponsored by ACE Graphics. 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