MIDWIFERY IS STAGING REVIVAL

[摘要] The practice of having midwives deliver babies and provide prenatal care is undergoing a rebirth in the U.S.All 50 states long ago legalized the practice of midwifery by registered nurses operating mostly from hospitals. But midwives who aren't nurses and largely do deliveries at home are now seeking legal status.Montana legalized non-nurse midwives last year, and a half-dozen states are considering legalization. Washington, which set up a scholarship fund to train midwives in 1989, is considering additional funding. And the nonprofit Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching has held two seminars in the past year to promote the profession, following the World Health Organization's declaration of an "urgent need" to promote midwifery throughout the U.S. . . .Fueling demand for midwives are poor and rural women, but also many middle-class and affluent professional women who shun more impersonal, high-tech hospital care. "They want someone to treat them as an individual, not as a potential lawsuit waiting to happen," says Joan Remington, a Flagstaff, Ariz., midwife. "Women are tested to death and begin to think they are a disaster waiting to happen."Demand for midwives is also being driven by the sickly state of obstetrics. One in eight obstetricians—hurt by malpractice insurance costs averaging $38,138 and soaring to more than $236,000 in some areas—has simply stopped delivering babies. . .One in four won't handle a high-risk pregnant woman; more than a third won't take Medicaid patients. Nearly 800 counties, 26% of all counties nationwide, lack any clinic where women can get prenatal care. At Los Angeles public hospitals, women sometimes deliver babies unattended in the hallway.

[学科分类] 儿科学