When I was working as a nurse in obstetrics everyone would comment, “oh how happy your job must be!” And it generally was, until things went badly. And then it was miserable. Nothing prepares you for the death or injury of a newborn and the grief of the parents and staff that follows.
Physicians and nurses may also fear a lawsuit – but hospital staff are rarely criminally prosecuted for their actions or inactions, but not so of home birthing midwives. Slate.com tells the story of Karen Carr, a midwife in Virginia charged with involuntary manslaughter in the case of a newborn who died under her care. She has pled guilty to two felony charges as part of a plea bargain.The birth was a particularly complicated one and at least one other midwife turned down the parents’ request for a home birth due to the baby’s known breech
presentation.
A network of support, including the requisite Facebook page, has sprouted up around Ms. Carr by home birth proponents and former patients. However, as a condition of her plea, she cannot practice in Virginia anymore as a midwife.
It’s also interesting to note that when home births go wrong and criminal charges are bought, they are not done so at the behest or even with the support of the parents. And in some cases, the families have decided not to cooperate with prosecutions. Do parents have the ultimate responsibility or should midwives be held responsible for carrying out their wishes for a home birth – even when the risks are so high that complications are almost certain? Or, should we accept the radical notion, once the norm, that sometimes things go wrong and no one person or entity bears the fault for what happens in nature? Must we force every patient to submit to medical intervention when it goes against their beliefs and preferences? And is it a slippery slope to demand that women submit to medical intervention during birth for ‘the sake of the baby’?
Midwifery was illegal in Virginia until 1995 and continues to be illegal in many states. In the greater course of human history the act of making midwifery illegal is a very recent idea.
