The Missouri State Supreme Court sided with the state’s trained but unlicensed midwives in removing a lower court’s injunction against a law that would allow these people to assist with home delivery of babies. The lower court ruled based on a lawsuit by the Missouri State Medical Association and other physician groups that said the law posed a danger to the public. The state’s high court said the doctors didn’t have the right to sue.
Many are touting this law as a victory for personal freedom and the right for families to have a home birth. Until this law was passed in August, 2007, Missouri was among 10 states that refused midwives without a nursing or medical degree the right to deliver babies. These home health specialists do however come with significant training and a strong apprenticeship program requiring them to train under an experienced midwife before being allowed to operate alone.
In a time of increasing health care costs and decreased access to care in rural areas, locally trained midwives may be the only cost effective and viable alternative to a system dominated by physicians, hospitals, and insurance companies who have little interest in providing anything but the minimum of care.
For more information on midwives and nurse- midwives and what the differences are between the two check out the comments on another article here at the Nursing Show site.
