Updated list-in-progress here. Shamed but not named: bad medics use law to hide their identities Paying for negligence: Birth bungles cost $115m in NSW alone Hypervirulent strain of Clostridium difficile in Epworth Hospital in Richmond Melbourne Scared nurses’ secret evidence of intimidation No room at the hospital for sick toddler Hospital blunder turns into family [...]

Tags: caesarean risks, hospital risks, maternal mortality
Filed under: careproviders, consumers, consumers' rights, surgical discourse, surgical monopoly

This is a beautiful and important post by Heather Armstrong, presented on The Unncessarean. I know many women will relate to it. Unfortunately. Read the rest at the link. Thank you, Heather. Every time this is articulated, another woman comes in from the cold and realises her feelings are valid and important, that she’s not [...]

Tags: caesarean, vbac
Filed under: consumers' rights, surgical discourse, surgical monopoly

Throwing out the lies with the birth water is a documentary about a woman’s right to give birth at home. It outlines the key issues for birth choices in the Blue Mountains, NSW. It follows one woman’s journey before, during and after her homebirth. It questions the definitions of risk in birth and the notions [...]

Tags: birth in Australia, obstetric monopoly, reproductive freedom
Filed under: consumers' rights, homebirth campaign, reproductive justice, surgical discourse

A first time birthing woman I know has been managing the fear others are feeling around her upcoming birth by choosing to present some facts for those who haven’t yet found out that obstetrics is mostly antiquated nonsense. I found her thoughts and perspective interesting given my own perspective as a writer and birth attendant [...]

Tags: first time homebirther, induction
Filed under: consumers, consumers' rights, feminism, surgical discourse, surgical monopoly

The “quality and safety framework” has been released. My response looks like this: Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com The real birth wars

Tags: commentary that bites, homebirth science not obstetric superstition, human rights, misinformation campaign, obstetric monopoly, personhood of the foetus, pesky pesce, reproductive freedom
Filed under: bullshit, careproviders, consumers, consumers' rights, homebirth campaign, midwives, midwifery, reproductive justice, surgical discourse, surgical monopoly

Via the ever marvellous Feminist Law Professors. As personhood of the foetus is foisted on Australian women via the backdoor of homebirth legislation, we should be paying attention to this. Legal Regulation of Pregnancy and Childbirth Courtney G. Joslin University of California, Davis – School of Law The Child: An Encyclopedic Companion, University of Chicago [...]

Tags: feminist law professors, human rights, obstetric monopoly, personhood of the foetus, reproductive freedom
Filed under: consumers' rights, feminism, reproductive justice, surgical discourse, surgical monopoly

I’m in danger of becoming a groupie. I was already wildly grateful for her work but after a morning of reading about pole dancing being a sport, how Australia lacks women in parliament, and how women aren’t too fussed by the unspeakable misogyny of Tony Abbott (and neither are men), it was such a relief [...]

Tags: caesarean, feminism, henci goer, homebirth after previous caesarean, misinformation campaign, obstetric monopoly, reproductive freedom
Filed under: consumers, consumers' rights, feminism, surgical discourse, surgical monopoly

Not content with wheeling out the already discredited Pang and Bastian “studies”, the AMA has now wheeled out a synopsis for a study of homebirth that rather misses the points of the information they actually found in the study. Check out Lisa Barrett’s blog and Hoyden About Town for a full breakdown. I also look [...]

Tags: lies we tell to women, misinformation campaign
Filed under: bullshit, consumers' rights, homebirth, surgical discourse, surgical monopoly