Australian attitudes to pregnancy and birth under fire: article
WOOT! Go Sheila Kitzinger!!!
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Cot crusader lashes Australia
Maxine Frith
October 28, 2007
AUSTRALIA'S medical establishment is under fire for its attitude towards pregnancy and labour.
British childbirth guru Sheila Kitzinger MBE will launch an attack on the nation's high caesarean rate and low levels of homebirth at a conference in Sydney this week.
The author of more than 20 books - including The Complete Book Of Pregnancy And Childbirth - accuses Australian obstetricians of ignoring women's needs in favour of their own protection and profits.
In an interview with The Sun-Herald, she said Australia was lagging behind other countries, which are moving to less hospital-based models of childbirth.
Less than 1 per cent of Australian women give birth at home, compared with 2 per cent in the United Kingdom, 10 per cent in New Zealand and 30 per cent in the Netherlands.
At the same time, 31 per cent of pregnant women have a caesarean section - double the safe level of 15 per cent recommended by the World Health Organisation and higher than the UK and the US.
But the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RANZCOG) has refused to endorse home births and defends the caesarean rate.
"That caesarean rate is far, far too high and there can be no reason why so many women need to be going through that," Ms Kitzinger said.
"To not endorse home birth is just outdated. Other countries are moving away from hospitals towards promoting home births or stand-alone birth centres that don't medicalise pregnancy and childbirth.
"Australia is behind the times with that attitude. It is a system that is focused more on the needs of doctors than the needs of women.
"Of course some women will need medical intervention but if they have had a healthy pregnancy, the majority should be able to give birth at home without problems.
"The problem is that they get forced through the hospital route by the obstetricians who don't allow birth to progress naturally because of their workload, or fear of getting sued, or because they are not listening to what women want.
"After a few hours they tell the women that labour is prolonged andthere are foetal abnormalities and suddenly they are being wheeled in for a caesarean without being given a choice. Then the woman is left damaged and traumatised and that can affect the way she bonds with her baby - it's a disgrace."
RANZCOG's president, Dr Christine Tippett, defended its official opposition to home birth. She said the high caesarean rate was due to complex factors, including litigation against doctors and the older age at which women are giving birth.
"The college does not endorse home birth because the data suggests that in the Australian context it is not safe," Dr Tippett said.
"In the Netherlands, the country is so small that if something goes wrong the woman can be easily transferred to a hospital. That is not the case here. I think that most women should give birth in a hospital, where all the resources are on hand.
"A small number of women may want to give birth at home but I think one of the problems is that they become very critical of anyone who doesn't want the same."
But the executive officer of the Australian College of Midwives, Dr Barbara Vernon, said: "We have had to agree to disagree with RANZCOG over home births and caesareans because we think their attitude comes more from a professional perspective than from any clinical basis.
"We are very concerned about the high rates of caesareans. The problem is that RANZCOG does not seem to understand that for women the way in which they give birth has immense significance."
Louisa Meek wanted a home birth for her son, Jack - now aged five months - but ended up having an emergency caesarean in hospital.
Ms Meek, 34, of Glebe, said when labour wasn't progressing at home she went to Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, where she hoped to give birth naturally. But she said after being left in the labour ward for six hours, staff came in and said she needed a caesarean, even though she wanted to continue and the baby was doing well.
"I felt like I was just an object on a factory line and no one was listening to me," she said.
"Even now I still get very emotional about it because it was so awful and really affected how I bonded with my baby. I'm not the only one. Four women in my mother's group have had similar experiences. You just feel that the obstetricians are indifferent towards you."
The Home Birth Australia Conference in Sydney this week will also hear from celebrity childbirth guru Gowri Motha, who helped Elle Macpherson and Kate Moss with their labours. Sri Lankan-born Ms Motha advocates her "gentle birth method", which involves a strict dietary, massage and exercise regime to enable women to give birth naturally.
