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I have been following your blog and want you to know that I am praying for you.
I have been more aware each year of the need for midwives.
I REALLY appreciate what you are trying to accomplish.
Here is the scene in Ohio- mid wives are being taken to jail!!
The following is a message from the midwife being
prosecuted:
To all supporters of homebirth and womens rights,
On Friday afternoon, my house was raided by the local police with a
search warrant for all of my midwifery supplies, equipment, charts,
records, textbooks, etc , along with some of my personal belongings,
(many hundreds of dollars) claiming that I was violating Ohio code of
practicing medicine without a license, practicing nursing without a
license and using titles that I did not have.
I have not been officially charged yet but the search warrant is
usually the last thing done in an investigation, so they will soon be
prepared to charge me.
All who care about a womans right to choose WHERE and WITH WHOM they
give birth need to be aware that their choices are being taken away
from them at this very moment.
As a CPM, I have done all that I can to be accountable and regulated,
but without State regulation, ANY midwife is vulnerable to this kind
of persecution. It could be YOUR midwife next!
This is devistating to my calling, to my kids, my husband and all who
I have served. Because of the trauma it has caused to my family, I no
longer will practice as a midwife.
Its too late for me to be protected under the law, through licensure
and a midwifery board but its not too late for the other wonderful
midwives providing selfless care to you and others.
Now is the time to come together and make a change. Before this
happens again!
I was just trying to find one once again and came across this report ( basically putting all non Nurse midwives out of business in this state of very few in th efirst place) that a group is trying t
I just heard that AWHONN is asking members to organize against CPMs. I am
speechless,
but I guess they are the L&D nurses and not necessarily friends of homebirth by
nature.
But they are also founding members of CIMS, and thus supposed to support
evidence
based medicine and CIMS positions. The CIMS position is that homebirth with
trained
midwives is safe, per CPM 2000 study....Anyone able to approach them about this?
Heidi
Dahlborg, LM in Sarasota FL
From the Association of Women's Health, Obstetric and Neonatal
Nurses Fall 2007 newsletter
__________________________________________________
Certified Professional (Lay) Midwives Seeking Licensure Status
without Demonstration of Adequate Education, Training, and Physician
Links
Certain associations representing midwives have been vigorously
pursuing the enactment of legislation that would codify for
licensure purposes, the "professional" status of Certified
Professional (Lay) Midwives. AWHONN is aware of such legislative
activity in Maine, Delaware, Illinois and Alabama and requests that
AWHONN sections monitor such activities in their respective states
and inform the Public Affairs Department at AWHONN Headquarters
immediately. AWHONN has prepared materials for use in combating
this unfortunate trend, which would contribute to placing patients
at serious risk in the face of deliver complications.
Background
AWHONN strongly supports the practice of midwifery by a Certified
Nurse Midwife (CNM), who is a registered nurse with an advanced
degree and broad range of training in areas including pharmacology,
and formal collaborates with other health care professionals as an
expectation of their licensure to provide safe, holistic care.
Certified Professional (Lay) Midwives (CPMs), in contrast, have a
far more limited apprenticeship and are not required to have
relevant college degree, pharmacology training, or collaborative
practice agreement with an obstetrician or hospital in case of
complications.
Given the disparities in education, preparedness and professional
back-up, AWHONN is concerned that state licensure of CPMs with have
a significantly negative implications for women and their newborns.
The term "Certified Professional Midwife" is misleading to the
public about the breadth of education and training that the lay
midwife may to have, and AWHONN fears that licensing these lay
practitioners will serve to foster this misunderstanding and place
consumers and patients at unnecessary risk.
Take Action! This is an urgent situation that requires YOUR action!
Explore whether this issue has arisen in your state and let
AWHONN's Public Affairs Department know promptly. Contact Lauren
Bates, AWHONN Legislative Associate, at LBates@...
To see if your state has pending legislation to provide
licensing for CPMs, visit www.awhonn.org/policy and click on "State
Legislation".
AWHONN headquarters will assist you in developing an
appropriate response your section can then convey to your state
legislators.
Your voice matters on this issue. AWHONN is not opposing lay
midwives having their livelihood, but rather is against licensure
that could mislead the public and cause harm when services are
rendered by those who would be licensed as "professionals," but do
not posses the training or clinical affiliations typically required
for licensure of trained health professionals.
- Lauren Bates
o refute with this letter and others like it.
Dear Lauren Bates,
I am Marsden Wagner, a perinatologist and
epidemiologist and former Director of Women's and
Children's Health in WHO. I attach a brief CV
I am frankly shocked to learn that your
organization is against the legalization of CPMs. I
attended the meeting where CIMS was organized and
AWHONN was represented and endorsed CIMS which
strongly advocates CPMs as one of the legitimate birth
attendants. Your statement that using CPMs will put
women and babies at risk flies in the face of
excellent scientific data. The excellent study of
over 5000 planned home births in the U.S. and Canada
all attended by CPMs and published in the BMJ found no
maternal deaths and a neonatal death rate just as low
as found in low risk hospital births---certified
professional midwives and planned home birth is an
absolutely safe choice for low risk pregnant women.
You are incorrect in asserting that CPMs are not
adequately trained. They have excellent standards for
training and take a NARM exam which is just as
difficult and thorough as any CNM exam. If there were
no CPMs in the U.S., nearly all women who chose
planned home birth would not be able to find competent
assistance at birth.
The nursing profession has become a leader in our
country in the development of competent health care
professions including, for example, nurse
practitioners. Your nursing organization will
certainly want to support the further development of
midwifery, including both certified nurse midwives and
certified professional midwives. I would be most
happy to discuss this further with you or anyone else
in AWHONN. My address is 123 Sherman Ave, Takoma Park
Maryland 20912, my telephone is 301 920 0241, my E
mail is marsden.patricia@... Sincerely,
Marsden Wagner M.D., M.S.
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If you don't take care of your body, where will you live?
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