A Movement Underway? Arlington-based midwife, Tammi McKinley, said her practice has "boomed" with the number of women questioning high-tech birth. "Women are really starting to understand that all those gadgets don't always mean a safer birth, and women are looking to replace high-tech birth with high-touch birth," said McKinley, who delivered one child by c-section and her second at home by midwife.
Statistically, the use of c-section, a major surgery, is being widely employed, more as a measure of convenience for both doctor and patient instead of a last resort in the event of an emergency. Dr. Michael Brodman, Chief OB/GYN at New York's Mount Sinai Hospital, cites a study that reveals the peak hours for c-section procedures are 4:00pm and 10:00pm. Brodman interprets the data from the perspective of the hospital-based physician:
"It's obvious," he says, "that four in the afternoon is 'It's late in the day, I don't know what's going on here, I want to get out of here and the ten o'clock at night is, 'I don't want to be up all night.'"
FAST FACTS:
-- In America, midwives attend less than 8% of all births and less than 1%
of those that occur outside a hospital. At the same time, the US has
the second worst newborn death rate in the developed world. Lake and
Epstein ask, "Why do less than 8% of Americans take advantage of the
benefits of midwifery, which is statistically safer and cheaper than
physician-attended birth?"
-- The five countries with the lowest infant mortality rates in the March
of Dimes report -- Japan, Singapore, Sweden, Finland and Norway --
midwives were used as their main source of care for 70 percent of the
birthing mothers.
-- C-section is the most commonly performed surgery in the US, at a cost
of $14 billion per year. Cesarean-delivery rates are now at an all time
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