I wonder why so many people are driven to extremely unreasonable actions that often put their own lives at risk by their inexplicable dread of doctors. This is a sentiment that hugely inspires the whole home-birth movement. Home-birthing websites indulge in endless fantasies about doctors going to incredible lengths to harm the woman and her child during the process of childbirth. Why any doctor would want to harm a patient is never explained.
The same sentiment informs Ross Douthat's latest article on voluntary euthanasia. The journalist creates images of plug-pulling doctors who are happy to end lives of sick patients. Why doctors would want to kill off people indiscriminately remains a mystery. Everybody knows that a doctor whose patients keep dying all over the place will not be very successful in her chosen field. As in any profession, there might be all kinds of maniacs among doctors, but for the most part, doctors want to save lives and not end them.Douthat's dislike of the concept of euthanasia is not limited to his distrust of doctors. His main enemies - here as well as in every other aspect of human life - are freedom and choice. In euthanasia, Douthat says, "the goal is perfect autonomy, perfect control, and absolute freedom of choice." And for him, these are very bad things. God forbid people should have any rights over deciding what happens to their own bodies.
It's curious how the hatred of the medical profession brings together such unlikely groups as rabid conservatives and feminists. The feminist belief in the woman's right to her own body sometimes degenerates into the unhealthy idea that it's ok to deprive women of quality healthcare during childbirth. I'm sure Douthat's hatred of women would lead him to support home-birthers.
6 comments:
Not all home-birthers are alike.
1. hippie-ish women, some feminist, some very clearly anti-feminist
2. religious women who belong to separatist cults such as the polygamous "Mormon" (excommunicated by mainstream LDS church) sects, or to some "Quiverfull" families and other conservative Christian sects which emphasize self-sufficiency, and limited contact with the outside world, at least for women.
3. Women in Amish and other Anabaptist groups, and women in some Orthodox Jewish communities strongly prefer home birth and have a tradition of midwifery.
4. There may well be some rural midwifery going on in remote places. When I was a kid, I thought I would like making rounds on horseback in the remote Appalachian valleys.
5. Many European countries have home birth attendance by skilled nurse-midwives available for those who have good indicators (2nd or later pregnancy, no known risk factors). Ultrasound now can identify significant risk factors.
And the issue with hospital birth is all about medical hating and has nothing to do with the way the medical establishment treats pregnant and birthing women? Coerced c-sections are the first thing that comes to mind. Women have been held in hospitals against their will for refusing c-section to 'protect the fetus'. Women have been charged with child abuse and even murder for refusing c-section. (one link here http://www.advocatesforpregnantwomen.org/articles/forced_c-section.htm) but these stories are far from uncommon. If the medical community wants women to stop being afraid of hospital births, they should stop treating pregnant women as if they do not own their own bodies. Also, regardless of how you feel about the medical safety of home birth, you really don't have a right to force someone to have medical care against their will. I myself tend to be leary of medically unsupervised home births, but let's face it, women do have a rights over themselves while giving birth and the notion that anyone should have a right to coerce them into places they clearly do not want to be and having medical procedures done upon them without their consent is complete and utter bullshit.
Also, a big part of the homebirth movement is what Nancy P lists as 4 and 5. The woman who supervises home births in my home area is a Certified Nurse Practicioner who worked in a hospital with deliveries and new borns for over three decades before changing careers. She is trained in breach birth, which the newest OBGYN at the hospital is not and she has more real life experience in delivery as well. Out of hospital births are not nessecarily medically unsupervised births and are fairly common in a lot of countries with lower maternal and infant mortality rates than ours.
Look, while I will agree with you that there is fear and hatred of the medical establishment, historically, a lot of that has come from the actions of the medical community itself. LGBT/queer people, mentally ill people, pregnant people have all been treated like shit historically by the medical community. I have trans friends who have been threatened with 'reparative therapy' for going to the hospital. There are still people who take a risk with their safety and freedom when entering the medical establishment. So don't say that these fears are never justified. If the medical community wants more of our respect, they need to put more effort into respecting us.
Of course, there are all the groups you list, NancyP. However, the only one of them that worries me is the feminist one. I'm not a part of the Amish community, so it's no concern of mine what is or isn't being done there.
What does bother me, though, is this paradox of feministss wanting to deprive women of all achievements of modern science and hide them in the home, as if giving birth were something shameful.
"Coerced c-sections are the first thing that comes to mind."
-First of all, I think a c-section is a great thing and do not share this anti-c-section paranoia.
"Also, regardless of how you feel about the medical safety of home birth, you really don't have a right to force someone to have medical care against their will"
-I'm sorry but where did I suggest anything like that? I absolutely do NOT believe that home-births shoudl be outlawed. I think they are extremely stupid, irresponsible and masochistic, but people should have the right to do stupid things to their own bodies.
Of course, people should also have the right to express their oponions about these stupid actions. Which is what I'm doing.
"having medical procedures done upon them without their consent is complete and utter bullshit"
-Once again, when did I ever suggest anything like that? It's VERY frustrating to have people ascribe some barbaric ideas to you and then condemn you for allegedly having them. Have you read my post? Can you please quote where I suggest forcing procedures onto anybody? What next, you are going to accuse me of torturing Iraqi prisoners??
"....you realy don't have a right to force someone..." and ".....having medical procedures done...."
If I've got it right, I don't think these statements refer to you, Clarissa, but to the medical establishment, as in, the medical establishment coerces, threatens, and performs operations on and enforces medical care against the will of various populations and persons. I know this is true, not only because I've read of numerous examples, but because it's happened to me. The medical establishment is patriarchal and hierarchical and its power is rarely sucessfully resisted once it has decided upon a course with righteous conviction, whether it's one doctor and one patient, or something considerably more complicated.
The medical establishment has saved my life once and threatened it three times.
I have mixed feelings. And being a feminist and a lesbian makes being a patient more difficult.
For being an advocate of myself as patient, I have been thrown out of a doctor's office, ironically after having read an article, while waiting to be seen, describing the ways in which I might participate in my own care. Attempting to implement the ideas I had just read is what got me thrown out.
To say healthcare reform is needed is a massive understatement.
"If I've got it right, I don't think these statements refer to you, Clarissa, but to the medical establishment, as in, the medical establishment coerces, threatens, and performs operations on and enforces medical care against the will of various populations and persons"
-Good to know because often people come here to direct their anger at me instead of the places where it rightfully belongs.
I think we can find a middle ground between following blindly whatever a medical professional tells us and suspecting everyy doctor of wishing to do us harm. I believe the only resposnible course of action is to understand the procedures that are being done to you and to find out information about them. One can always ask for a second medical opinion if one wishes. I don't think that people who refuse any kind of medical treatments (except for contagious diseases) should be criminalized.
Still, I cannot believe that ob-gyns have this huge conspiracy to make childbirth a horrible experience for women. It just doesn't make sense. Also, I don't believe that it's in the doctors' best interests to euthanase their patients against their will. Sometimes, the paranoia isn't justified by any reality.
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