Hwk 38

Born in the USA begins with the author discussing the nightmarish atrocities that are involved within giving birth while living in America. It then starts to talk about different aspects of giving birth such as the option of having a midwife, or where in the USA a woman may want to give birth. The author then decides to end it with a conclusion of his idea of a better way of being born and how we as a country may be able to make an attempt to approach such a theory.

Born in the USA tries to answer a number of questions:
-Why do women living in the USA have a higher chance of death (70% more likely) due to childbirth when compared to places such as Europe?
-Why are methods to deliver a baby such as C-section so commonly used when a wide range of alternatives are available?
-What causes doctors to use such dangerous drugs and procedures in order to have a childbirth take place?

For the last question I think it’s the way our society is set up. We follow a strict set of norms and when someone tries to change it we are oh so surprised. As a society we tend to rely on drugs much more than we need to. We give it to patients who may not need it at all, while others are dying because they are in need of drugs but have little or no access to them.

The main insight so far is that majority of the females giving birth in the United States are prone to following their societal norms of giving birth. They are unaware of the deathly risks they may be taking by making it their choice of how they would like to experience their childbirth. We do not seem to consider the negative effects of making such decisions; instead we automatically tend to do what we have seen or heard others doing. Referring to the hospital has been an old action trigger in our society. When something out of the ordinary occurs having to do with our bodily functions, we simply join the epic race of contacting a doctor. When women are asked how they would like to have their baby delivered (by a doctor or a midwife) they usually have their answer ready “I like the doctor aspect of it.” (Business of Being Born). I think as a society we rely too much on what else but our society; little do we know is that these this is evil entities (doctors in this case) are willing to unnecessarily drug pregnant women, and attempt to perform dangerous surgeries on them, sometimes without their consent.

-Women in America are 70% more likely to die because of childbirth than those in Europe.
-Obstetricians use dangerous, unnecessary drugs and procedures in order to have a childbirth take place.
-Procedures such as a C-section are used when not necessary and almost readily used.
-The current misconduct crisis has been aggravated by the scare of responsibility.
-28 countries have lower maternity-mortality rates compared the USA, while 41 have lower infant-mortality rates.

The evidence used throughout the book so far refers to different types of evidence. Some of it refers to stories about mothers that have had experiences within the “broken maternity system” carried out in the U.S. Some references were made to much bigger branches such as the CDC, ACOG and FDA. Some pieces of evidence were obtained from other texts such as papers written on the topic and guides/books. There was also statistical data obtained from a survey taken at a hospital in Seattle. I feel that the evidence Wagner uses is accurate and reliable. The way he gathered this information from various sources and presents it seems quite honest to me.