Dr. Raymond Hoffman, president of the Illinois State Medical Society, wrote (Voice, June 8) to express his opposition to the bill proposing free-standing birth centers. He stated that patients might “be put at risk in a setting where something less than complete care is available if needed.”
I wholeheartedly disagree. Having done research on the history and development of obstetrics as well as on the options for less medicalized births, I believe that free-standing birth centers would be a fantastic development for Illinois residents.
There are many skilled obstetricians and obstetric nurses who can save patients who could not be saved decades ago; however, most patients who have normal pregnancies do not need the services provided at hospitals and would be better served by a birth center where individualized care and less intervention are the norm.
In numerous studies, birth centers and midwives have consistently had better outcomes than obstetricians and hospital births for low-risk patients, including fewer Caesarean sections, fewer episiotomies and fewer cases of infection. Prenatal screening normally can detect those who are at risk of serious complications; for those very few who develop sudden, unexpected problems during birth, a hospital is a short ambulance ride away.
The root problem is that doctors are trained in an environment in which they do not get a chance to see normal births. In a hospital environment, with a woman on her back with monitors strapped onto her and a Pitocin drip, the birth necessarily becomes high-risk. Very few doctors see a normal birth that progresses without intervention. Doctors learn to see pregnancy and birth as a “condition” that requires “treatment.”
It is generally recognized that births progress much better, with fewer complications, in a relaxed environment where the mother-to-be feels comfortable and safe. Birth centers can provide this kind of environment far more effectively than hospital maternity wards.
