If a midwife deviates from the midwives’ philosophy of care then she is not practicing midwifery.

From the website mymidwife.org from The American College of Nurse-Midwives they state: “Midwives listen to women, and always provide the information you need to make informed and educated decisions about your healthcare.” It sounds like this midwife did not fulfill her obligation to “always provide the information you need to make *informed and educated* decisions”.

If practicing in a certain hospital means that midwives are not able to practice true midwifery using the midwifery model, then they deserve to be called ‘medwives’. “Paying the bills” is no excuse to sacrifice your principles, and your title of “midwife”. If a midwife does not intend to follow the philosophies of a midwife, then she has no business using the title “midwife”. If women are treated in a way that goes against the midwives model of care by a person who calls herself “midwife”, she report her behavior to her states nursing board and then send a copy of the letter to The American Midwifery Certification Board (AMCB). Women choose midwives because they want to be treated with dignity and respect, and they expect to be treated in the framework of the midwifery model.

As for my clients’ decision – they were planning on leaving their son intact and wanted the midwife’s opinion. Using the words “dirty penises” and discussing “all of the men who she has had to see have their foreskins removed in their 30′s” as well as how painless the procedure is made my information seem inaccurate. When she quoted that 90% of American men are circumcised I was deeply disappointed in her misinformation. However, this is a very convincing argument. Not giving completely informed (and accurately informed) consent is a real problem here.

I am fortunate to work in a midwifery service with wonderful colleagues, including supportive physicians. I am thankful for the opportunity to provide support, education, and knowledge to women – and to be able to follow through at the end of the day. I wish we all could be this lucky.

As far as circumcision – it is a shame that any provider would promote circumcision versus giving the pros and cons as you did. I have to wonder, though, if the family really was leaning towards circumcision anyway if all it took was a 5 minute convo to ‘convince’ them?

@Kathy- That’s a great point! I don’t think many people would be on board for having pieces of their genitals cut off. My feels about circumcision aside, this was not informed consent.