I'm asking this question for my sister who is due at the end of July. She is military and will be delivering in a military hospital in Georgia. She is taking child birthing classes through the military and is having some major reservations about the hospital. First her military midwife (I use that term loosely she is an OB wannabe) said she WILL be there for the birth, now she is finding out in the childbirth classes she only has a 10% chance of getting her midwife. In the begining they were also told that the hospital would bend over backwards to follow birth plans, now she's finding out that there are a bunch of stipulations on that. Such as they don't respect birth plans that are made without research cited, birth plans printed off the net are ignored (because ya know Mom didn't read and agree with the bp she just printed it out without reading it), etc....
The nurse giving the classes was asked questions about how are birth plans followed if you end up with a new doctor. Many questions were asked about declining routine interventions such as, refusing eye ointment, delaying cord clamping, declining episiotomy, no IV etc. The nurse pretty much said that it's up to the OB, if the OB doesn't want to delay the cord clamping then he won't and that this is what you get in a military hospital with a 'too bad so sad' attitude. When my sister brought up declining eye ointment the nurse said, "we don't do that here, it's state law and it's military hospital policy there is no way around it".
So is the nurse right? Can you decline these procedures in a military hospital or is it pretty much the same as a civilian hospital? To me if I say I don't want the cord cut and they do it anyway that is battery. I don't care what kind of hospital it is.
The nurse was getting very annoyed at all these questions and my sister is becoming scared she won't get her natural birth.
My sister never put money aside for a doula because her midwife told her "it would be overkill because you have a midwife for care provider and I'm into natural birthing" (this was in the begining before we knew otherwise) Money is very tight and she can't hire a doula. As of right now she has no one down there to be with her for the birth (her DH and other friends who were in her unit are deployed). I'm going to try to be down there for the birth but any suggestions for her going it by herself? (I already told her a doula would be worth double her weight in gold but I think she is very unable to pay for that atm).
The nurse giving the classes was asked questions about how are birth plans followed if you end up with a new doctor. Many questions were asked about declining routine interventions such as, refusing eye ointment, delaying cord clamping, declining episiotomy, no IV etc. The nurse pretty much said that it's up to the OB, if the OB doesn't want to delay the cord clamping then he won't and that this is what you get in a military hospital with a 'too bad so sad' attitude. When my sister brought up declining eye ointment the nurse said, "we don't do that here, it's state law and it's military hospital policy there is no way around it".
So is the nurse right? Can you decline these procedures in a military hospital or is it pretty much the same as a civilian hospital? To me if I say I don't want the cord cut and they do it anyway that is battery. I don't care what kind of hospital it is.
The nurse was getting very annoyed at all these questions and my sister is becoming scared she won't get her natural birth.
My sister never put money aside for a doula because her midwife told her "it would be overkill because you have a midwife for care provider and I'm into natural birthing" (this was in the begining before we knew otherwise) Money is very tight and she can't hire a doula. As of right now she has no one down there to be with her for the birth (her DH and other friends who were in her unit are deployed). I'm going to try to be down there for the birth but any suggestions for her going it by herself? (I already told her a doula would be worth double her weight in gold but I think she is very unable to pay for that atm).
unless SHE is active duty military (and honestly, because it was something done to the BABY, I'm not sure if that would even matter anyway) she can and should sue for that. A military doctor can be sued by a civilian patient and they are scared of it, because if you are a military doc who loses a suit like that, you don't just get a raise in your malpractice premiums-you get kicked out of the military.
I'm not sure on where she lives and how close to state lines or is she required to go to the military hospital? Because maybe she could look into TN or Florida for birth options. Since midwifery/homebirths are legal there.
