Great news:
On Friday, May 23, the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania reversed the September 2007 decision of the Pennsylvania Board of Medicine which ordered Lancaster County midwife, Diane Goslin, to cease and desist from the practice of midwifery.
In other, not so great, news....
Nationally, home birth is being attacked by the American Medical Association (AMA), joined by American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG). The AMA has introduced a legislative resolution at their 2008 Annual Meeting to outlaw home birth (Resolution 205, PDF). Incidentally, the AMA has also written legislation to propose a stop to the Board of Medical Examiners, who plan to begin testing and certifying Doctor of Nursing Practitioners (Resolution 214, PDF). Both resolutions can be found online American Medical Association.
The American Academy of Family Practice outlines some of the issues at stake regarding the DNP resolution.
From Midwifery World: Targeting Ricki Lake Makes Mommies Mad, AMA Learns a Quick Lesson.
As news of the AMA’s anti-home birth proposal spread, legal experts wondered how the organization will propose to enforce such laws. “At best, we can expect to see them push for window-dressing laws that simply condemn home birth as unsafe but are used to harass families who make this choice, as well as the midwives who work with them,” said Susan Jenkins, Legal Counsel for the Big Push for Midwives. “At worst, I fear we could see scenarios very similar to the legislative battle in Missouri over legalizing CPMs, where the medical lobby strong-armed law makers into killing a bill that had broad support from both legislators and the general public. Unfortunately, when it comes to legislation, money talks, and the AMA has a lot of money. Some even go so far as to say Big Medicine is the new Big Tobacco.”
Also: Ricki Lake Fires Back at AMA for Childbirth Statement.
If you are interested, check out The Big Push for Midwives 2008: Legislation, NOT Prosecution.
The Big Push for Midwives Campaign comes at a time when we realize we must increase access to U.S. maternity care, decrease maternity care costs, and improve our nation's birth outcomes. The campaign will facilitate this by achieving licensure for ALL midwives in ALL states, D.C. and Puerto Rico. The campaign will highlight the importance of family healthcare choices, and will defend the ability of CPMs to provide legal and safe prenatal, birth and postpartum care to families in every state. Ricki Lake, Producer, "The Business of Being Born"
A letter from Stuart J. Fischbein, MD FACOG and Medical Advisor, Birth Action Coalition can be found on the most recent Midwifery Today E-News Volume 10, Issue 14. This is where I first learned of the AMA/ACOG resolution.
It looks like the AMA is really feeling threatened in light of much attention in the media by celebrities having home deliveries, with recent Today Show headings such as “Ricki Lake takes on baby birthing industry: Actress and former talk show host shares her at-home delivery in new film” (Resolution 205). Whoops. It appears more women are discovering that their child's birth can be safe AND positive... we'd better try to make it illegal so MDs/OBGYNs can obtain control! Same with DNPs! It is now resolved that [the] AMA adopt a policy that those nurses who are Doctors of Nursing Practice must only be able to practice under the supervision of a physician and as part of a medical team with the final authority and responsibility for the patient under the supervision of a licensed physician. (Resolution 214)
Some say we should expect nothing less of a professional organization such as the AMA. I ask you, was this legislation written with the wellness of the country's people in mind, or was it written to protect the professional organization and its members?
At this point, most important is our local congressmen and women. Find your representative.
