What will become of our midwives as
> this insurance "virus" spreads ? How can the public trust midwives with
> birth if the 'powers that be' say they are a high risk group and remove them
> from practicing?
> > 


There is potential for a very positive message to be put out about this
crisis - and midwives and consumers need to lobby insurance companies as
well as governments to understand that it is not childbirth itself which
carries high risk, but the depersonalized medical model of care, in which
women are often not involved in informed deciision-making about their care
or the risks and benefits of alternatives.

In NZ the college of midwives has successfully obtained another 3 years of
full PI cover for its members, on the strength of a water tight case that
insuring midwifery care is a low risk prospect for insurers.

The same has successfully been achieved by the WA Community Midwives Program
last year, where the argument was put to the WA Government's reinsurer that
midwifery by its very nature is low risk, because women who develop
complications are referred to specialists for care. Women are also supported
by one-to-one midwifery care to take responsibility for their care and their
decisions and to be well informed about their choices when complications do
arise.  The insurer was so persuaded of the merits of these arguments that
they blocked moves by the King Edward Memorial Hospital to take over the CMP
as a solution to the lack of PI cover for CMP midwives, saying that if the
government merged the CMP with the hospital they would withdraw their cover
for the Program!!  It was the very autonomy of this midwife-led program
which the insurer saw as it guarantee of low risk.

The National Maternity Action plan (see
www.communitymidwifery.iinet.net.au/nmap.html) outlines these issues and
recommends that governments embrace the widespread adoption of community
midwifery models of care as a major part of the solution to the indemnity
crisis affecting maternity services.  Obviously it will be necessary to have
other measures too to support the continuation of obstetric services for the
minority of women who actually need them.  But the insurance crisis is a
major opportunity for us all to put forward the argument that mainstream,
publicly funded access to community midwifery care will go a long way
towards addressing the spiraling litigation in obstetrics!

Midwives need not and should not be tarred with the same brush as
obstetricians!  We need to get out there and market what midwives offer as a
unique service which women value, which produces good outcomes, and which
results in less exposure (of both women and insurers) to risk through
greatly reduced rates of intervention.

Barb.  

Dr Barbara Vernon
National President
The Maternity Coalition





--
This mailing list is sponsored by ACE Graphics.
Visit <http://www.acegraphics.com.au> to subscribe or unsubscribe.

Reply via email to