Saraswathi Vedam's deeply disingenuous annotated guide to the homebirth literature

I never cease to be amazed at the pervasive contempt in which professional homebirth advocates hold their own followers.Contempt for the intelligence of their followers: they are confident that followers can be easily tricked with long lists of citations; Contempt for their unfamiliarity with forms of scientific literature: they are confident that their followers will believe something is a scientific...

No wonder Colorado homebirth midwives hid their 2010 death rates

Each year, licensed Colorado homebirth midwives (certified professional midwives, CPMs) are mandated to report their safety statistics. As I detailed in a post about the 2009 statistics, in every year since homebirth midwives were first licensed in 2006, the midwives had a death rate that exceeded the state as a whole (including all races, all gestational ages, all pregnancy complications, all pre-existing...

Uterine rupture: how much time do you have to save the baby?

A new study to be published in the April issue of Obstetrics and Gynecology demonstrates that in the wake of a uterine rupture, providers have no more than 18 minutes to deliver the baby before the baby experiences significant hypoxia, and only 30 minutes until the baby suffers major neurological impairment.The paper, entitled Uterine Rupture With Attempted Vaginal Birth After Cesarean Delivery: Decision-to-Delivery...

International comparisons of neonatal and infant mortality are invalid

The annual meeting of the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine is currently being held in Dallas. Two different papers will be presented today, both of which highlight the increased risks of homebirth.The first is Neonatal outcomes associated with intended place of birth: birth centers and home birth compared to hospitals (abstract 65) by Cheng, Snowden and Caughey. According to the authors:This was...

Two new studies show increased risk of death, serious complications at homebirth

The annual meeting of the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine is currently being held in Dallas. Two different papers will be presented today, both of which highlight the increased risks of homebirth.The first is Neonatal outcomes associated with intended place of birth: birth centers and home birth compared to hospitals (abstract 65) by Cheng, Snowden and Caughey. According to the authors:This was...

The death toll of California homebirth

The state of California has released a comprehensive summary of outcomes of California licensed homebirth midwives of the year 2010. The reports makes for disturbing reading. Homebirths exceed low risk (and sometimes high risk) hospital birth on almost every negative outcome including deaths.Before we look at the outcomes, let's look at whether California licensed homebirth midwives comply with their...

Near-miss maternal mortality

Maternal mortality has dropped 99% in the past 100 years. A maternal death is now, fortunately, a rare event. Attention, therefore, is shifting to maternal morbidity, in particular, life-threatening morbidity. The results of a new study are instructive.Near-Miss Maternal Mortality: Cardiac Dysfunction as the Principal Cause of Obstetric Intensive Care Unit Admissions by Small et al. will be published...