Thursday, December 6, 2007

It's Hard to Follow your Convictions.

As those of you who know us personally will soon find out, we are opting for a home birth because of a falling out with a doctor.

It happened yesterday at Willow Creek women's hospital. Well, more accurately, it happened at Park Hill Women's Clinic.

We had made out our birth plan, mentioning a few things such as we did not want to use Pitocin, or Cytotec, and a few other things. Dr. James Gorman M. D. decided not only not to work with us, but also not to allow us to dissent in any way from his staid medical opinion. It came to the point of him marking up our birth plan, and requiring that we initial each of the changes and sign it by tomorrow saying that we would allow the doctors to do what ever they pleased. Oh, and Dr. Bailey (the boss) backed him up.

Now I understand doctor's wish to keep everything under control and safe and what not, but stiffly not allowing a person to have a baby the way they want to? Patients have the right to refuse blood, refuse chemotherapy, refuse resuscitation, refuse anything we want to, but now we do not have the right to refuse to use a drug that on the label says not to be used with pregnant women?

Well F*** you and here's the finger.

So, home births right?

At least we'll get to use our video camera.

WiredForStereo

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am interested in the rest of the story regarding your baby's birth. (congratulations, by the way; it seems you are expecting another one?)
Anyway, your perspective seems to focus on being more "in control" - in a manner of speaking because, of course, the term "control" is an ambiguous one.
I usually see the worst of the worst in at-home births gone wrong, which is why I shy so strongly away from the thought of it. Not that I trust in the general public's view of the "infallibility" of highly-trained physicians; those of us with any view from the inside out know better. I don't like doctors or hospitals, and I have been a healthcare provider working in the hospital acute-care setting for almost ten years! (When I've been in for the birth of my own children, I've tried to remain as in-control as possible - out of there in 23 hours or less!)
But I suppose I still feel that - with all I have seen and cried over the injustice of - I want to have a knowledgeable professional who can remain rational and detached from a situation which for me will be emotional.

I am completely accepting of the fact that God is sovereign, and when bad situations happen He is still good! But if we can use advances in medicine (made possible by His instilling within us a sense of curiosity and desire for discovery) for the safety of childbirth, isn't this good?
I don't appreciate the attitude your doctor displayed, by the way. It's reprehensible, and the problem I have with MOST physicians.

I guess I am just trying to understand more of your perspective; I enjoy all of your blogging, and I am enjoying reading all that I can.

I really, really wish that you had an insider's perpective of the healthcare field! I would ask you to write on so many of the dilemmas we face... with the advent of huge medical advances, these somehow superceded the need for understanding the ethical use of them all.

Thanks for taking the time,

Rachel

Solomon Parker said...

Well, it didn't work out as well as we wanted, ended up having a C-Section. Cost us many extra thousands of dollars (we don't have maternity insurance.) So I guess it really wouldn't have mattered.

I'm interested in what you think about universal healthcare. Read my post on it an tell me what you think.

Anonymous said...

You know, I suppose I had never really thought about it. Now that I do, I know that I would be supportive of universal healthcare for this reason:

This kind of system would be at spreading not just access to medical facilities and skills, but to KNOWLEDGE. Knowledge is power. I see how you have mentioned the small country of Iceland when referencing their infant mortality rates. Well, knowledge is truly what changed for them. The understanding that what infants really and truly needed was their mother's milk to protect them and allow them to grow unhindered by inconsequential illnesses, and the access to people (midwives,trained appropriately)who could give them such useful information.....

Not saying that all people would be receptive to what a universal system had to offer, but certainly most would, and could take advantage of it. Cut back on expensive ER visits that tell you little to nothing about the true state of your body's health - go to a "real" doctor (or maybe it's a nurse practitioner/physician assistant) who has the time to sit and talk with you, understand your situation and care about it (after all, like you said, you would only see the ones worth their salt anyway!) And it is true, a system like this would not lower the standards of those who are fortunate members of "Club Private Healthcare Insurance"; instead, it would provide the foundation for whatever they chose to add-on.

Efficiency, that's what we're after here. Nevermind initial costs; we have to think long-term and self-sustaining system, and the final product is worth it.

People are worth it....all of them.

-Rachel

Solomon Parker said...

You are definitely right about one thing, the numbers show that the majority of people do want it. The majority of doctors too.

It's interesting, I've noticed people pretty much stop complaining about universal health care when they end up actually having to pay for it themselves.