Quote of the Day

"There is nothing defensive about defensive medicine when it comes to the patient. Defensive medicine is aggressive and dangerous. When a doctor starts practicing defensive medicine, he or she by default stops caring for their patient in favor of caring for their own self-interest. And who suffers?

The patient."

Wise words from my fellow Jill of Unnecesarean. Performing a Cesarean to avoid litigation is like cutting off a leg to prevent an ingrown toenail. "Oh we did all we could, bla bla bla." No you fucking didn't. If you'd done all you could you probably wouldn't have needed to cut the damn leg off!

And it all comes back to "wahh wahh, moms are so lawsuit-happy, if we don't do C-sections how are we going to stop them from suing us?" How about stop being assholes. Midwives hardly ever get sued, do you know why? Because they make friends with their clients. It's hard to sue someone that you like.

Do you like your OB?

No, really, do you like your OB? Does your OB like you? Does your OB even remember your name without having to look at your chart? What about your kids' names, your husband's name, your unborn baby's name? Would he remember in detail the birth of your eldest, which he himself attended? Would your OB come to your house for an appointment, or pick you up if your car was broken down? Would your OB bring you extra venison steaks and tomatoes from her pantry? Would your OB stay with you during your whole labor, rub your shoulders, spoonfeed you yogurt? Would your OB hug and kiss your baby after he is born, hug and kiss you?

Would your OB strive to form a cooperative relationship to work together for your prenatal care and birth? Or would he wag his finger from up on his pedestal, authoritative voice booming, "Now you do exactly as I say and we'll get this baby out just fine!"

When you are so detached from a person as many women are from their OB (and how bizarre it is to consider yourself not attached to someone who's had their hand in your vagina!), it's much easier to get angry and demand money when things go wrong. After all, the OB is the one who took charge, who demanded obedience, so it must be HIS fault, right? Performing more Cesareans is not going to prevent this from happening. If you want things to change, you have to look within first.