The Tatia Oden French Memorial Foundation

SQUAT was contacted by Maddy Oden of the The Tatia Oden French Memorial Foundation. The following description of the organization is sourced from their website at www.tatia.org

WE ENCOURAGE SQUAT READERS TO SIGN THE FDA CYTOTEC PETITION HERE:

http://www.petitiononline.com/cytotec/petition.html

Learn more about the foundation here:

The Tatia Oden French Memorial Foundation is presently focusing on the issues of informed consent, the off-label use of drugs, and maternal mortality.

Dedication: The Tatia Oden French Memorial Foundation dedicates this site to ALL mothers and children who have been damaged, injured, or lost their lives due to medical interventions and drugs given during childbirth – without full knowledge of what they needed to know before these interventions were used or given to them. Tatia.org stands firmly on the shoulders of Tatia Malika Oden French and Zorah Allie Mae French.

History: In Dec. 2001, Tatia Oden French entered a well-known and well-respected hospital to deliver her first child. She was 32 years old, in perfect health, and looking forward to a natural, unassisted childbirth. There were no problems during the pregnancy. According to her doctor's calculations, she was a little under 2 weeks overdue. She was given the drug Cytotec to induce her labor. Cytotec, also known as Misoprostol, is a drug manufactured to treat ulcers. It is NOT approved by the FDA, or the drug company, to induce labor. Ten hours after being administered Cytotec, Tatia suffered hyper-stimulation of her uterus, an amniotic fluid embolism (AFE) was released, an emergency C-Section was performed because the baby was also in distress. Both Tatia and her baby Zorah died in the operating room. The Tatia Oden French Memorial Foundation, a non-profit corporation, was formed in March 2003 to give ALL women of childbearing age complete information concerning medical interventions and drugs which are administered during childbirth. We do this hoping that women may then be able to make FULLY informed decisions regarding the birth of their children.

The articles, links and projects that you find on this website deal with the issues facing all women who will give birth in the US. The articles are updated regularly and contain information about interventions used in childbirth, drugs, c-sections, maternal mortality, informed consent, and adverse events of various drugs and interventions. This  information  will help give you a more rounded perspective on what goes on during childbirth. We do this with the hope that you will ask your health care provider about these issues and about alternatives to such interventions as pain medication, epidurals, inductions etc.  We  do this seeking the most wonderful, awesome birth possible for every woman and child.

Contact Us:
The Tatia Oden French Memorial Foundation
87 Hamilton Place
Oakland, Calif. 94612
Fax: (510) 268-1983
Email: zorah@tatia.org
www.tatia.org

Sneak preview FYI: 

The Winter Issue of SQUAT will feature an interview with Ina May Gaskin about the Safe Motherhood Quilt Project. If you, or those you know, are involved in the maternal mortality movement, please let them know we are seeking additional content on this topic for the Winter and future issues.