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- Newsgroups: misc.kids
- Path: sparky!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!torn!blaze.trentu.ca!xtkmg
- From: xtkmg@trentu.ca (Kate Gregory)
- Subject: Re: Homebirth vs. Hospital birth
- Message-ID: <1992Dec30.175015.21187@trentu.ca>
- Organization: Trent University, Ontario
- References: <ANNE.92Dec20213836@dolores.Stanford.EDU> <1992Dec23.204219.19144@crd.ge.com> <ANNE.92Dec29124245@dolores.Stanford.EDU>
- Date: Wed, 30 Dec 1992 17:50:15 GMT
- Lines: 27
-
-
- Some time ago I posted a summary of a scientific article in a refereed
- journal that studied over 1000 home births in Toronto, Ontario and
- reported the numbers of transfers, outcomes, and so on. I will mail
- the summary out again to those who mail me asking for it: if I get
- more than 5 email requests I'll post it.
-
- The bottom line: over 1/3 of the primiparas were transferred to hospital
- but far less (10%? can't quite remember) of the multiparas were
- transferred. Oh yeah, that's "having a first baby" and "had a baby
- before" respectively. One child born at home died; one child born
- in hospital of a labour that started at home died, for reasons
- completely unrelated to the transfer to hospital or the managment
- of the labour and delivery. The first child
- was the subject of enormous press attention, an inquest and so on;
- the second passed without notice as did the child of a friend of a
- friend of mine, born in hospital after a hospital labour, who died
- because she picked up an infection in the hospital, at about the
- same time as the hullabaloo over the home birth and death.
-
- This study shows that home birth with a trained midwife in a large
- city is safe for those women who meet the stringent requirements
- to be accepted for a home birth. It can indeed be safer than the
- hospital. In Ontario within a few years home birth will probably
- be considered normal or perhaps even the norm.
-
- Katei
-