I think this is typical of Irish obstetrics...the home of "active management" of labour.

Mum is Irish & in a conversation with a cousin, talking about (unplanned) home births, she said, "But what I don't understand about home births is how the placenta comes out." I said, "What do you mean?" She said, "Well, they give you that injection in your leg as the baby's born to make the placenta deliver, so what would happen if the baby was born at home?" She did not realize that the placenta can actually deliver on its own....