“The Doctors”: Carrying on the Homebirth Turf War?

I’ve recently been following a series of emails from women who have been solicited for stories of homebirth by producers of a new spin-off of the “Dr. Phil” show, called, “The Doctors.” Apparently, the questionnaire included the following questions:

• Did you have a child at your home?
• Did you want to have a soothing experience where you were in control and could bond with your child?
• Did it not go the way you planned?
• Do you regret having a home birth?
• Do you regret using a midwife instead of going to a hospital?
• Did you have your second child the traditional way in a hospital?
• If you or someone you know regrets having a home birth please tell us your story below.

One of the associate producers, Judith Sanchez, is working on the project. She solicited Ricky Lake and Abby Epstein to appear on the show and they have declined. If you would like to write to her and give her your opinion, you can email her at judith.sanchez@cbs.com or call her at (323)956-8289. I have drafted the following email to send to her. Maybe it will give you some ideas.

Judith,

I wanted to write you a quick email about an upcoming episode of “The Doctors” that I understand will be focused on home birth. I have received forwarded messages that indicated that the questions for home birthers who might appear on your show are decidedly negative and it appears that your show is less interested in the best research and more interested in fishing for negative stories that would produce a sensationalist, anti-midwifery show. I hope that this is not the case, but I want to direct you to some interesting and relevant facts.

1. Although it spends more on maternity care than any other industrialized nation, the United States still ranks 37th in infant mortality. According to “The CIA World Factbook,” Singapore led the world with an infant mortality rate of 2.30 per 1,000 live births, followed by Sweden with a rate of 2.76 and Japan at 2.80. The United States’ rate of 6.37 ranked just 37th, behind South Korea and Cuba and just ahead of Croatia.

2. In all the other countries that have better infant mortality rates than we do, including most European nations, midwives attend approximately 75% of births. In the Netherlands, which is near the top, over a third of births still take place at home. In the United States, midwives attend only 10% of births. Only 1% of births take place at home.

3. The largest and most rigorous study of home birth internationally to date found that among 5,000 healthy, “low-risk” women, babies were born just as safely at home under a midwife’s care as in the hospital. And not only that, the study, like many before it, found that the women actually fared better at home, with far fewer interventions like labor induction, cesarean section, and episiotomy.

4. The American Public Health Association and the American College of Nurse Midwives support women choosing home birth. In addition, the British counterpart for ACOG, the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists have stated that “there is no reason why home birth should not be offered to women at low risk of complications… it may confer considerable benefits for them and their families. There is ample evidence showing that labouring at home increases a woman’s likelihood of a birth that is both satisfying and safe…”

While you are fishing for stories about disastrous home births, may I point out that there are just as many or more stories of negligence, injury, and death for hospital births. I sincerely hope that you will not try to undo the many years of work that birth advocates have dedicated to the fight for evidence-based care, mother-friendly care, and the preservation of a woman’s right to choose how, where, and with whom she will birth. I myself gave birth at home. I understood that there were certain risks involved with doing so, but having read the research and having seen so many hospital births as a doula and the sub-standard, even unethical care that women received in the hospital setting I determined that the risks associated with birthing at home were more acceptable to me than the risks associated with giving birth in a hospital.

Thank you for your consideration. If your show can truly become a reliable and “must-go-to” source for the latest breakthroughs and cutting-edge practices and procedures, you must develop a sense of trust with your viewer. Part of developing that trust is to make sure that the information you give is not sensationalistic or biased, but based on the best evidence.

Sincerely,
Elizabeth Day, LCCE, CD(DONA)