Anyone here involved in any sort of activism to help improve the sad state of maternity care in the US?
I joined CIMS - the Coalition for Improving Maternity Services. Their big project now is The Birth Survey (Links in my sig.) I joke it is like, "Zagat for Birth."
Women sharing their experiences so others can benefit from the collective insight.
While I think this is a great initiative, I'm surprised it is their core initiative. I think if you're informed about birth, you can get a good idea of what sort of care to expect from a careful interview. (i.e. asking open-ended Qs to get your health care provider to open up & reveal their true view of the birth process.)
I know Dr. Marsden Wagner outlined ways to improve American maternity care in his book "Born in the USA." Universal healthcare was, I believe, his #1 item! But that's quite the lofty goal! IOW, lI think we ought to work to improve things within the scope of the current system.
I think it's just so ironic that CHEAPER care is, (statistically / on the whole) the BETTER care for moms & babies! How often is cheaper better? Why aren't insurance companies aware of this & working to lower costs? Why aren't they trying to:
Encourage the use of MWs instead of OBs as primary care provider for low-risk pgs? (& thus encourage more MWs to be trained so we have more available!)
Pay for more birthing tubs & less epidurals? & therefore less insturmental deliveries?
Pay for less EFM, no IVs, fewer CS? (& therefore shorter hospital stays with vaginal vs. CS delivery)
Why don't we have less government funding for the training of OBs & more for MWs (since we need more MWs & fewer OBs)?
My suspicion is that ACOG is a big reason why not.
If only MWs and natural-birth friendly people had a political lobby as big & powerful as ACOG...
But I'm just dreaming here.
I joined CIMS - the Coalition for Improving Maternity Services. Their big project now is The Birth Survey (Links in my sig.) I joke it is like, "Zagat for Birth."
Women sharing their experiences so others can benefit from the collective insight.While I think this is a great initiative, I'm surprised it is their core initiative. I think if you're informed about birth, you can get a good idea of what sort of care to expect from a careful interview. (i.e. asking open-ended Qs to get your health care provider to open up & reveal their true view of the birth process.)
I know Dr. Marsden Wagner outlined ways to improve American maternity care in his book "Born in the USA." Universal healthcare was, I believe, his #1 item! But that's quite the lofty goal! IOW, lI think we ought to work to improve things within the scope of the current system.
I think it's just so ironic that CHEAPER care is, (statistically / on the whole) the BETTER care for moms & babies! How often is cheaper better? Why aren't insurance companies aware of this & working to lower costs? Why aren't they trying to:
Encourage the use of MWs instead of OBs as primary care provider for low-risk pgs? (& thus encourage more MWs to be trained so we have more available!)
Pay for more birthing tubs & less epidurals? & therefore less insturmental deliveries?
Pay for less EFM, no IVs, fewer CS? (& therefore shorter hospital stays with vaginal vs. CS delivery)
Why don't we have less government funding for the training of OBs & more for MWs (since we need more MWs & fewer OBs)?
My suspicion is that ACOG is a big reason why not.
If only MWs and natural-birth friendly people had a political lobby as big & powerful as ACOG...
But I'm just dreaming here.
