Re: The 'Infamous' Ina May Gaskin
From: art fougner, md (evsono@pipeline.com)
Tue Sep 26 07:33:36 2000
since there is a growing body of literature suggesting that abdominal
delivery may have a role in the prevention of pelvic floor disorders,
perhaps Ms. Gaskin's population would be ideal subjects for long term
follow-up.
just a thought.
art
At Mon, 25 Sep 2000, Anna Meenan, MD wrote:
>
>At Mon, 25 Sep 2000, Luis Sanchez-Ramos, MD wrote:
>>
>>Do you accept what this lady has written about misoprostol without
>>having ever used it? I am convinced that she does not know what she is
>>talking about and feel that what she did to me was very irresponsible
>>(taking my letter to the editor and converting it into a "debate" with
>>her).
>>Since her statistics appeared in Spiritual Midwifery I'll have to accept
>>them. However, if they only delivered 2028 babies in nearly 29 years
>>that comes out to 5-6 per month. These are for the most part very low
>>risk women. The perinatal mortality rate could be zero and the cesarean
>>delivery rate < 2%. There is nothing extraordinary about those figures.
>>It is my opinion that the maneuver for shoulder dystocia should not
>>carry her name. I wonder how many shoulder dystocias she has
>>encountered in her 5-6 deliveries per month?
>>What is the name of the nearest hospital to that farm? To which hospital
>>are patients transferred? After looking at her web site she does not
>>appear to be a humble and modest person but one who is searching the
>>spotlight i.e: Ina Mays' Speaking Engagements...give me a break!
>>
>>LSR
>>
>Luis,
>As of delivery #1963 Ina May had 43 shoulder dystocias. Don't know what
>the total is right now. Also as of that time (Jan 1996), she had
>collected reports of 39 more cases in her registry and continues to
>collect them. I sent her one last week. Again, Ina May did not put her
>name on the all-fours maneuver. It was put there first, as best I can
>tell, by Joseph Bruner MD, Dept of Maternal-Fetal Medicine at
>Vanderbilt. Midwives all over the world have picked up on it and
>promoted it in tribute to Ina May, who is respected worldwide by
>thousands of Midwives, MD's, birth educators, and other proponents of
>natural childbirth. Ina May would probably prefer that you call it the
>all-fours maneuver, and only wants practitioners to know that it works,
>and it saves babies.
>As for the website, I suspect it is a response to the many requests she
>gets from people on a daily basis for information about the Farm, the
>Birth Center, her speaking schedule (she is a very sought-after
>speaker), and her other projects. I have been to her house. She is not
>in this for the money by any means. She does not seek the spotlight. It
>seeks her.
>Regarding her response to your letter, I agree that the entry in the
>table of contents in the Birth Gazette announcing it was somewhat
>misleading, I think it is clear in the response that it is simply a
>point-by-point response to each of the items in your original letter.
>Your c-section stats are admirable Luis, but by no means representative
>of most U.S. medical centers. With an average c-section rate of 23-24%
>in this country, much higher than that at some centers (35% at our level
>3 center), and higher still in some other countries, perhaps we all need
>to spend more time sharing ways to lower it. That is one of Ina May's
>goals. I personally would love to know how you achieve your numbers in
>a level 3 center. Our perinatologists don't seem happy unless the baby
>comes out through the belly.
>
>--
> Anna Meenan, MD, FAAFP
>
--
art fougner, md
A series of 1000 cases begins with but a single anecdote.
|
|
