Legal Trouble here

[MsBlack]

Hello Sister Midwives and all--

I just wanted to tell you that in the past two weeks I was served 2 orders to Cease and Desist--one for practicing medicine ('doctoring') and one for practicing nursing ('nurse-midwifery') without a license. Each of the C&Ds came with a $5000. fine--so IL wants me to quit, and to pay the State $10,000. :

I will be arguing this, of course. This being a public forum, I can't say much about my plans, but I will say that I have reason to hope that I can defeat these Orders and fines--at least in part. Other mws here have received C&Ds, but only for practicing nursing, and none on first offense getting fined. As I am not a woman of means, and the only wage-earner (or adult) in my home, I will be representing myself. Luckily for me, I have done this with success before (not midwifery matters tho)--not that I wouldn't rather hire a lawyer, but I do have some confidence in my ability to read the Civil Code and proceed adequately to the task.

Anyway--that is my big news. I would sure appreciate your prayers and positive thoughts coming my way....for me and my family, as well as for midwifery and homebirth families in this state. I might be able to make a difference for more than just myself, if I do this right. If I can keep my nerve and my focus!

IL, btw, is the homestate of the AMA--which has been fighting off attempts to get midwifery licensing now for more than 25yrs. We have a bill now in the legislature that passed the state senate and is now awaiting debate, refining and a final vote in the house of reps (come Jan. session).

thanks a bunch--

MsBlack

[Veritaserum]

I'm so sorry. This is completely ridiculous!

We finally got our legislation passed a couple of years ago. I hope yours passes this session. It's restriction of trade for OBs to go around preventing midwives from attending a frickin' 1% of the births going on. They do it under the guise of "public safety" but we all know what it's really about.

Power.

I'm sure we've all seen these sorts of power plays happen during births, too. It's sickening.

[momma earthical]

will be thinking of you, can I share this with IRL midwifery friends?

[Juvysen]

s:

Hope you get through this soon

[Joyce in the mts.]

Supportive thoughts come.


J.

[mothercat]

Do you have a defense fund set up?
Anywhere we could send a bit of financial help?

[rmzbm]

Let us know if we can do anything...keeping you in my thoughts & sending positive vibes!

[Unreal]

:

I can't even imagine how your stomach must have dropped when you served.
It is such a sad statement of the society we live in--that they find midwives so threatening.

It is obscene that they refuse to acknowledge that women have the right to choose the type of provider they want.

And how they can get away with this when other states have taken such steps to improve their midwifery laws/regulations....

How insanely sad.

[MsBlack]

Thanks everyone...it does my heart good to hear from you.

Mothercat--no defense fund at this time. However, I might be starting a grocery fund at some point, if they really make me stop...or if news of this cuts into business too much. Not even kidding there....but so far we're good. I will let you know when/if this changes. Not sure, but I might have to pay some court costs even if I represent myself. I'll be filing as a poor person (which I am), and hopefully court will waive fees.

It's hard. I'm hopeful...but it's hard! I just wanna live...and help the babies come...in peace.

[Joyce in the mts.]

I just wanna live...and help the babies come...in peace.

That's the bottom line.


J.

[Peppamint]

I hadn't realized you were in IL, land of C&D for midwives.

Many, many good thoughts for you and keep us posted. I hope very soon our states will get legislation like nearby WI.

[Charmie981]

Originally Posted by MsBlack

I just wanna live...and help the babies come...in peace.

Don't we all?! Please do set up a fund for yourself, for groceries or legal defense or WHATEVER, and when you do let us know. Your posts have been so helpful to many of us in the last few months and I hate to hear this is happening to you. I understand the stress of it, having dealt with a bit of it myself .



-Charlotte

[JunipersMom]

Keeping good thoughts flowing down from Michigan... please keep us updated and let us know if we can be of any help. Is there a midwifery advocacy group in IL that could lend support also?

[nurturedbirth]

I hope you are personally successful and that the state finally passes the legislation you need.

A couple things that lept to mind.

- Do you think legal aid would have anything to offer you in terms of assistance?

- It makes no sense to me that they could charge you with practicing both nursing and 'doctoring' since the each of those professions require their own licensing and those licenses are mutually exclusive for those practicing in those fields. I'm not sure if that even made sense but I'm not sure how to clear up my line of thinking, either.

[pamamidwife]

Move here!

Seriously.

The criminalization of midwives is beyond me. I just don't get it. What's interesting is that here in Oregon, the most vocal opponents of midwifery has never been the docs - it's always been the nursing association!

I'm so sorry that this is happening to you. Have you been in touch with Valerie? I will email you tomorrow with more info.

I offer my home and my appreciation for you if you ever want to relocate.

[etoilech]

Have you contacted NARM or any other pro-midwifery organizations? Maybe they could help? Maybe they have some people to put you in touch with that have been through this and can help?

Please keep in touch and let us know how we can help.

You'll be in our thoughts. Standing over here in Europe this looks like something out of the bloody "twilight zone".

[gaialice]

Writing from Europe and sending
It is really incredible that in this day and age, in the United States, no less, there are still places where women are not free to birth with a midwife if the choose to. That is incredible... And they actually enforce this?!! It makes me just to think about this.

[MsBlack]

You probably can't imagine how much your kind words help me to cope. This is so hard....especially right now, when it is all in this early stage and I have no idea how it will go, or how I will survive. Oh, I will survive...just don't know 'how'. And had just begun to think in the last few months that I was getting to a more comfortable place in my life, financially and otherwise, after a long period of struggles.

As for this state. Well...a few things there: one is, I am not exactly the Poster Child for supporting IL efforts to pass legislation. I am not exactly a strong proponent for licensing ANY profession (at least, not any medical profession--which to me seems historically to have acted more as a protection for the AMA's power and profits rather than any sort of protection for consumer safety). I do keep my fam and friends updated about legislative things, and ask them to write letters and such--but I'm not the one applying constant doses of fiery rhetoric and personal magnetism to the Cause. I don't organize bake sales to raise $$, and am too poor myself to contribute $ to legislative efforts. I have made no secret of the fact that I hate politics generally and have had my respect for due process largely destroyed by having been dragged through (along with my kids) due process in midwifery matters as well as family matters...for causes that helped NO ONE in the end. WEll. Due process did help the state, and a couple of my exes, wreak a certain amount of revenge upon me and my kids, which I'm sure they all appreciated since they couldn't beat me in the wars they made upon me. :

I have also been fairly outspoken (from time to time anyway--out of respect I try to stay out of the way mostly) against the tactics the IL legislative group is using to attempt to get licensing passed. I have expressed my displeasure with the way the current bill has been compromised by politics. I have not, in other words, made myself all that popular in Illinois among the birth activists! Not to mention that that group --including the families from whom financial support has been drawn, for lobbying, etc--is fairly small and the available cash seems to be dwindling.

Also, because of events that have occurred so far in IL for other mws over the years, my sense is that there is a general agreement that mine is not a 'winnable' case. That we've already BTDT, and couldn't budge it that way. The problem is that 'experience' can lead to 'habituated thinking', imo; all of us tend to have a hard time seeing a thing with new eyes and renewed inspiration once we believe we've already seen it before too many times (this seems to be a general human trait, not just applying by any means to midwifery politics). And I don't criticize this at all (not that I like it!)--we all have to look at situations and decide whether or not we think it's really worth our time and energy, especially if there are *other* ways we believe that spending our time/energy might be more effective.

I am not saying that there is NO support for me in IL among the mws and activists...but so far it appears to be quite limited. I accept this, in view of the above factors...and in a certain way, it seems just as well. It is not the way I would have it, for sure! But at least it means that I am not obligated to anyone else's thinking or will on how to proceed with this. Same goes for representing myself--although at the moment I am fairly well daunted by the prospect (and being no stranger to the courts OR to representing myself, my fear is well-founded), well the fact is that I was never represented by a lawyer who did not royally piss me off! And do things 'on my behalf' that felt like violations (of varying degrees, and even though all were good men). Lawyers (and some of my best friends are lawyers ) can be so maddenly like doctors....in terms of their sense of power in the relationship, and their belief in doing things 'for your own good'. Besides, they have their own reputation to protect, and who can blame them for the way their profession has evolved? So...if I have to set this case up according to my own inspiration and logic, then maybe that's the best thing. It's on me and my life--I'm the only one who has to care. If I score any points and that helps others, awesome. If it just helps me even a little, without doing anyone else a damn bit of good--well, so be it.

And if it is true, as Abe Lincoln said (I think it was him) that the one who represents herself in court has a fool for a client and a jackass for an attorney...well so be it again.

In any event. Yesterday, I spent some time in the local law library and online at home, wading through the excessively convoluted verbiage that is IL legislation and Civil Code. Fighting waves of rage and nausea just because it looks like it was written ON PURPOSE to be mystifying to the average person IN ORDER to keep it from being accessible to the average person. Well, I got through that part (for now) and begin to have some sense of how to proceed. Today I will do some more of same.

And I will be heartened to the task, stopping to think about you all, and all the midwives and mamas over time who fought this fight, and drawing strength from the collective.

So thanks...and I will definitely let you know if I start a fund account...and the dates of hearings and such.

[cfiddlinmama]

Oh Ms Black.... I'm SO sorry. Lots of prayers and good thoughts coming your way. Thank you for doing this! s

[Valerie]

Originally Posted by MsBlack

Other mws here have received C&Ds, but only for practicing nursing, and none on first offense getting fined.

Hi --

For what it's worth (which may not be much, but is probably a good thing to keep in mind during your legal research), about half of the cease and desist orders since 1997 actually were for practicing medicine without a license. I was actually issue one for that, and one for practicing advanced practice nursing without a license. What is really unique (and appalling) about your case, is that it is the first time that the State has tacked a fine onto a cease and desist order to a midwife. It is outrageously punitive, and is a distinct change in the State's tactics.

I have no doubt that you will be effective in representing yourself, but if I can help in any way, please let me know. I seem to be in the position these days of having access to a pretty huge number of legal research tools, and I am currently clerking in the Cook County Public Defender's Office, which makes available even more (human and otherwise) resources. In addition, of course, I have my own sordid history with the State of Illinois. I would be happy to share any of my pleadings with you -- possibily as models for your own, or at least to give you some ideas.

Take care of yourself...

Valerie
Illinois