I have submitted an abstract for a paper I want to read at the Harm Reduction Conference in Oakland this coming November...for a bt of field research that I haven't done yet. ;-) I'm hoping to do background interviews this summer. you, or a family member or friend, might be among the people I need to talk with for an important bit of health activism that links the community of people serving birthing women with the community of people promoting sane policy on drugs.
here's the problem, and it's not one that's well known in the larger society. in my own opinion as a social scientist and as an advocate for the rights of all to quality care in their chosen setting, it deserves greater airing and committed action to ensure the right of mothers, their babies, and their families to respectful, appropriate care and security. in the present "zero tolerance, no on drugs" climate that pervades health care and government policy, many women have been labeled "suspected drug abusers" when they ahve gone to a hospital or health clinic for prenatal, childbirth, or perinatal services. this can happen in any of several ways; a woman may report a past problem with prescribed or street substances as part of an hnest assessment of her health. or, some aspect of the woan's appearance, language, or demeanor may give a physician, nurse, or other clinical health worker "reason" to write "suspected drug abuser" in ehr medical records. or, she may report honestly occasional use of marijuana in the innocent belief that this will npt be comsidered problematic by some doctors, nurses, and other practitioners and health workers. ironically enough, a woman who is commited to a minimal medical intervention approach to birthing, and who thus questions or declines many common procedures such as routine fetal monitoring, or pain medication while in labor, may be targeted as a "medical malcontent" or "suspected drug abuser." the consequences for this, depending on the setting, can include blood or urine testing of the mother or baby for various drug metabolites without further permission, obligate bottle-feeding while in the hospital (which can seriously affect the success of attenpted breastfeeding later; for many mothe-infant duos, there is a critical period duing which good breastfeeding needs to be nurtured), involvement of the hospital social work staff and/or Child Protective Services with the family in potentially highly invasive ways. the field research phase of this project will consist of my interviewing mothers, physicians, midwives (both home- and hospital/clinic-based), social workers, and other people who have direct experience of this labeling procedure. the main emphasis of this paper is on cannabis testing and its consequences, although I am happy to talk with anyone who has been targeted as a "suspected drug abuser" based on accusations of the abuse of any substance. (again, ironically, I have heard one report from a social worker whose client was told she'd "tested positive for opiates" after receiving standard narcotic-based pain medication during a hospital birthing!) all interviews will be in strict confidence, and identifying details changed as needed to protect the anonymity of any interviewees. I'm happy to meet in person with anyone who wishes to speak with me face to face, but e-mail and tepephone interviews make it possible, and desirable, to gather experiences frm people all over the United States. I live in the San Frnacisco bay Area of California, so interviews are a more likely face to face possibilty if you are somewhere in northern California, though I'm hoping to travel some this summer and could possibly meet with interviewees in otehr locations if time and geography permit. please pass this letter on to anyone you think may be interested in being included in this study, and encourage them to contact me via e- mail, at 510 594-1912. I'd appreciate it if you forwarded this letter to any organizations or groups that might be interested, and please, if possible, tell me where else this has been publicized. I'm now contacting midwives, hospital workers, chldbirth-oriented Internet discussions, drug policy reform organizations, maternal- child health programs, ane medical marijuana advocacy groups to gather a cross-section of potential interviewees whose lives may have been affected by these practices. thanks for reading all this, and I promise to make my paper available to anyone itnerested (and possibly to name skillful collaborators at gathering interviewees as co-researchers!) I am planning academic publication of this paper as well as presentation at drug policy conferences. while there may be light statistical analysis of the information (e.g., depending on the number and type of responses, a geographic assessment of whether some regions are especially prone of overly aggressive "intervention" of this type, or whether there are socioeconmic factors that influence the likelihood of a woman's being labeled a "suspected drug abuser"), the emphasis and methodology of this paper will be primarily descriptive and ethnographic. many thanks, Judith Gips [EMAIL PROTECTED] or [EMAIL PROTECTED] 510 594-1912 ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> You can search right from your browser? It's easy and it's free. See how. http://us.click.yahoo.com/_7bhrC/NGxNAA/yQLSAA/vseplB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Complete archives at http://www.sitbot.net/ Please let us stay on topic and be civil. OM Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cia-drugs/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
