WOW!

In the previous post on this blog I reflected briefly on newspaper reports about 'ex-midwife' Lisa Barrett (for want of a better description of Lisa).

Thismorning I have been repeatedly shocked and challenged as I have read Lisa's blog 'Free for all', and its screeds of comments in the day or so since the account was posted.

The struggle to protect an Australian woman's right to choose the maternity care she receives, and her right to plan homebirth, has continued over many years. I have participated in that movement for the past 20 years. I have seen colleagues in the press limelight briefly; I have seen organisations take a lead in efforts at political lobbying. In recent years I have witnessed changes under a socialist health policy, offering hope (the carrot) of better maternity services for all, that have introduced a level of bureaucracratic control (the stick) that has not previously been imagined by independent midwives.

As I said in my previous post, it is not possible to judge a case when we have only fragments of information. It is also not possible to obtain consistent information, or judge the reliablility of information, through blogs and the media.

Yet the big issue that I am seeing as I read Lisa's blog, and the linked comments, concerns the rights of parents to keep and protect their newborn babies. The case study that Lisa has presented exemplifies the harsh reality that the State can, and apparently in some circumstances will, exercise protective custody of a newborn baby when and if it chooses. This is a statutory right in developed societies, set up to protect innocent lives. Its misuse, which is what this chilling account clearly suggests, will surely instill fear into the hearts of midwives and caring parents.

Many independent midwives, including yours truly, have chosen a less confrontational pathway through the current maternity reform process, than the one Lisa Barrett has - very publicly - taken.  BUT the scenario presented in this case: a mother giving birth in hospital to a well baby, after planned homebirth, going home with their baby hours after birth, and making an apparently informed decision that this is better than staying in hospital ...

I could name women in my practice who have signed themselves and their babies out of hospital care in very similar circumstances.  Occasionally over the years, women have been reminded that they could be reported to child protection services.  It's the trump card that can be pulled out to force non-complient mothers into line.  Once initiated, there's a legal minefield ahead.

Your comments are very welcome.