Patient safety, disciplinary action, and the marginalization of midwives

by Amy Romano, CNM (Originally published on Science and Sensibility for Lamaze International)It sounded like an April Fools joke, except the story broke two days early. Doctors in North Carolina induced and ultimately performed a cesarean on a woman who wasn’t pregnant. The case happened in 2008 but we all learned about it this week because the North Carolina Medical Board finished their

Midwifery Advocates Protest Seemingly Illogical Hospital Decision

by Candace Curlee, CNM, MS, ACNM Region VI RepresentativeA curious thing happened last month in Ventura County, CA. St. John’s Pleasant Valley Hospital in Camarillo decided that midwives can no longer practice at their facility. Midwives have been practicing at St. John’s for the past 30 years. Evidently, the pediatrics and obstetrics committees along with the board of directors made the decision