Monthly Archives: October 2007

So, this morning I open my email and find a letter from a family looking to hire a doula. This is not an unusual thing for me to find. The letter is addressed to me and to about 10 other doulas in my area. It’s a form letter. While there are certain points of the letter that are personalized, some of the questions come straight out of DONA’s How to Hire a Doula section.

This is where I confess, this type of letter used to make me really mad. I wasn’t mad that couples were interviewing other doulas. I was angry to be asked to summarize everything about myself into one email. I would say to myself, “I bet they didn’t do this with the local obstetricians…” And I was right.

Then I realized that the problem was not that I got this letter but that the OBs didn’t! Heck, just think how an OB would handle a mail like this one from a potential client. Can you say straight into the junk mail folder?

I would be tickled pink if all of a sudden, OBs had to answer questions from women other than do you accept my insurance. Wouldn’t it be great if all the OBs had to answer the 10 Questions to Ask Your Careprovider by CIMS? Now that would be great. Not only would it be great for the individual women to get to actually choose their providers based on something other than address or how nice their office is, but the OBs would be made to have some accountability for their practice and how it is presented to women. Now that’s transparency in maternity care.

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