The "Business" of Birthing
Note: All of the information here represents fact, not opinion, of birthing within the United States. If you don't believe it, check the references listed at the end of the article. That being said, you may want to sit down before reading further...
FACT
Each
year, the U.S. spends over $50 billion dollars on childbirth. This is
more than any other nation in the world. (This number does not include
babies in the NICU or readmissions during the first month.)
FACT
Birthing
is the largest source of income for American hospitals.
FACT
The
U.S. ranks 37th in the world for the quality of its health care.
FACT
Over
HALF of all hospital admissions in America are for maternity.
FACT
Hospitals
are NOT the safest place to have a baby. 25 infectious
strains exist that are resistant to ALL known antibiotics.
These are found primarily in hospitals.
FACT
75
years of routine hospital birth have produced NO studies to show it is
safer than having a baby at home with a skilled birth attendant.
FACT
Both
homebirth and birth centers have been scientifically proven to be as
safe or
safer than hospitals with a skilled labor attendant (i.e.
midwives, not doctors).
FACT
The
more technology used in childbirth, the more dangerous it becomes.
FACT
The
larger the hospital, the greater the risks to both mother and baby.
FACT
Of
the 4.3 million babies born annually in the U.S., a mere 5% represent
natural childbirth.
FACT
America
has the 32nd
highest infant mortality rate in the entire world.
FACT
The
U.S.A. has the 14th highest maternal mortality ratio among developed
nations.
FACT
Over
90% of all infants in the U.S. are born with drugs (e.g. narcotics from
epidurals, pitocin, acetaminophen, etc) in their systems.
NONE of
these drugs have been tested for safe use in infants.
FACT
A
24-hour hospital stay, uncomplicated delivery in the U.S.A. costs
anywhere
from $8,000-10,000. This cost DOUBLES for a
c-section.
FACT
ALL families
in the
U.S. are charged newborn nursery charges, even if the baby NEVER leaves
the mother's room. This "routine" charge amounts to about
$1.3 billion dollars annually, for services that are NOT
rendered. (I'm not quite sure why this doesn't constitute
insurance fraud - billing for services not rendered.)
FACT
Every
year, 1 million, or about 20%, full-term, healthy infants are sent to
the NICU for "observation" for an average stay of 3 days, totaling a
whopping $6,000.
FACT
For
newborns suspected to have serious medical conditions, the same NICU
stay totals $20,000.
FACT
1 in
3 American women has an episiotomy. Episiotomies are
medically indicated for less than 10% of all women. Over 1
million unnecessary episiotomies are performed annually in the U.S.
FACT
1 in
5 births in the U.S.A. are induced. 44% of women surveyed in
2002 reported their doctor wanted to induce. Only 16%
reported medically-indicated reasons.
FACT
American
women who elect epidurals are FOUR times as likely to have cesarean
sections.
FACT
31.1%
of American babies (nearly 1 in 3) in 2006 were delivered by
cesarean section.
The World
Health Organization recommends a c-section rate of less than 10-15% as
acceptable.
FACT
U.S.
hospital policies for routine tests, practices, policies and
procedures are based on financial considerations, which include
malpractice insurance costs. They are not based on evidence,
research, or appropriateness of care.
I
truly hope
you found these statistics disturbing.
If they don't speak to the medicalization of childbirth in this
country, I
don't know what does.
The true horror
comes in
the fact that these views are being exported across the
world. As the U.S. is such a powerhouse of
marketing, more impressionable regions are adapting to these customs,
despite the overwhelming evidence that the U.S. approach to childbirth IS
SERIOUSLY FLAWED!
American
obstetricians are
taught to view birth as "a disaster waiting to happen." The
average delivery in the U.S. is neither natural nor healthy. We have
embraced a
cascading system of successively more intense, unneeded interventions
termed "active management" or the "standard of care".
So what do we do? How can we change the system?
We
as a country need to reach beyond our own boundaries to embrace an
effective model of maternity care. We, as women, mothers, and
families, must educate ourselves as to the true process of labor and
childbirth.
We must
regain our faith
in our
bodies' perfect ability to have a baby. We must look at what
the research is already telling us - that nature has it right!
In short, we must take back our birthing!
And if you're still not convinced, check these out:
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr56/nvsr56_07.pdf
http://www.motherfriendly.org/Downloads/induct-fact-sheet.pdf
Deneux-Tharaux
D, Berg C, Bouvier-Colle MH, Gissler M, Harper M, Nannini A, Alexander
S, Wildman K, Breart G, Buekens P. Underreporting of Pregnancy-Related
Mortality in the United States and Europe. Obstet Gynecol
2005;106:684-92.
http://www.who.int/whr/2005/en/
Hartmann
K, Viswanathan M, Palmieri R, Gartlehner G, Thorp J, Lohr KN (2005).
"Outcomes of routine episiotomy: a systematic review". JAMA 293 (17):
2141–8. doi:10.1001/jama.293.17.2141. PMID 15870418.
(2006)
"ACOG Practice Bulletin. Episiotomy. Clinical Management Guidelines for
Obstetrician-Gynecologists. Number 71, April 2006". Obstet Gynecol 107
(4): 957–62. PMID 16582142.
http://www.unicef.org/publications/index_18108.html
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/obgyn.htm
http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/330/7505/1416?ehom
Macfarlane
A, McCandlish R, Campbell R.
Choosing between home and
hospital delivery. There is no evidence that hospital is the safest
place to give birth.
British Medical Journal. 2000 Mar
18;320(7237):798.
Home versus hospital birth.
Cochrane
Database Syst Rev 2000;(2)
The
cost-effectiveness of home birth.
Journal of
Nurse-Midwifery. 44(1):30-5, 1999 Jan-Feb.
http://www.kff.org/womenshealth/upload/whp061207othd.pdf
http://www.childbirthconnection.org/article.asp?ck=10401
http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/318/7189/995
Peck P. Preinduction cervical ripening significantly increases risk of cesarean. Medscape Medical News, 2003
Goer H. The Thinking Woman’s Guide to a Better Birth. New York: Perigee Books, 1999, p 228-9.
Fullerton
JT and Severino R. In-hospital care for low-risk childbirth: comparison
with results from the NationalBirth Center Study. J Nurse Midwifery
1992;37(5):331-340.