Oh my, Oh my.  My husband actually alerted me to a Today Show investigation (cue scary music) airing this morning while I was getting the kiddos ready for school.   I was flabbergasted, but not surprised by the one-sided, scare tactics of this investigative report (cue scary music)….The Perils of Midwifery (cue scary music….are you scared yet!).

Here is the link to the video: The Perils of Midwifery (*sorry I could not post the video directly on RR).

The video profiles a family who tragically lost their newborn during a home delivery, with certified nurse midwife Cara Muhlhan (a CNM prominently profiled in the documentary:   “The Business of Being Born”. )   It is sad to me that one families tragedy is used to push for an agenda against home births  and against any non-physician attended delivery.  The rhetoric and scare tactics used in the investigative report were laughable.  Matt Lauer starts out talking about “extreme births”  aka home births. Here are some other gems:

• A talking male head “expert” comparing home births to spa treatments.  “Yes, I will have my full body avocado massage while I am crowning please.”
• Same talking male head talking about the “Hedonistic” style of birthing.
• Flashy pictures of celebrities who have given birth at home.  Every  women I know has chosen their birthing options from reading US magazine.
• ACOG says childbirth decisions should not be determined by what is flashy, trendy, or the latest cause celeb.  But it is OK for childbirth decisions to be dictated by defensive medicine, personal golf schedules, and “because I have always done it this way,” reasoning.
• When the investigator speaks of midwives he uses terms like “they allege” medical births cause X,Y and Z.  As if the anger over the medicalization of birth is all a big conspiracy.
• When the narrator states that studies by the CDC show home births to be safer than hospital births, they leave us with this quote:  “But doctors say it is impossible to compare the safety of home births with hospital births, becasue hospitals care for so many high risk cases.”  Really?  It is impossible to compare  similar low risk patient populations’ outcomes for delivery?  It is impossible to just remove the high risk populations from the comparative study?  This is called research idiots!

*Full disclosure that I am not an expert on home births, or births for that matter  (NICU nurse remember?), but I can call a Code Bullshit! on a story when I see one.  This one reeked of bias and a favoritism of the medical model.

For the record, the Today show has a history of profiling advanced practice nurses, like certified nurse midwives, as dangerous and under educated practitioners.   The Truth About Nursing has called them out on other “investigative” reporting such as nurse practitioners working in retail clinics are sub par and dangerous.  Even though research says the exact opposite.  The Today show rarely even let’s the advanced practice nurses defend themselves against their investigative reporting attacks, just like in The Perils of Midwifery nonsense story.  There were many quotes from ACOG, but none from The College of Midwifery or the ANA…interesting.

Maybe I need to start watching Good Morning America…..sigh.

RR

*Post Edited 9/15/09 , changed Center of Nursing Advocacy to The Truth About Nursing