Bob K: No disrespect intended toward you, but the NATIONAL DR maternal mortality stats are 159/100,000 (declared a disgrace by even the DR officials) with 45% of the deaths coming from nosocomal infections. You may be in a particularly positive environment which means that OTHER locales are particularly negative in order to have the rates come out that high.
According to WHO:
"The US death rate for women giving birth plummeted in the 20th century.
At the beginning of the century, maternal death rates were around their historical level of nearly 1 in 100 for live births. The number today in the United States is 1 in 10,000, a decline by a factor of 100. <sic: note that would make the rate 10/100,000)> The decline in maternal deaths has been due largely to improved asepsis, use of caesarean section, fluid management and blood transfusion, and better prenatal care." Lowest rates included Iceland at 10 per 100,000 and Austria at 4 per 100,000. In the United States, the maternal death rate was 17 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births in 2000. "Lifetime risk of maternal death" accounts for number of pregnancies and risk. In sub-Saharan Africa the lifetime risk of maternal death is 1 in 16, for developed nations only 1 in 2,800. Sure the DR is better than many African countries, but if you were giving birth would THAT comfort you?
The OP should not only speak to doctors (who in many people's experience and their own statistics--and I AM a specialist in these and continue to collect public health statistics) the care lags decades behind developed nations with a commensurate increase in risk to both mother and baby. FYI: I sit on the Medical Care Leadership Council of the American Public Health Association, have performed primary research and published in this area.
For a concrete example, although Clinica Abreu is known by health professionals on the S Coast as THE only place to have a baby, MANY of my acquaintances, colleagues and friends have chosen to FLY OUT OF THE DR to have their babies. I'm not sure what I would chose to do if it were me in this situation but I would not take the "don't worry about it honey" response kindly.
The real issue here is that the OP asked for referrals on docs who practice natural childbirth. Whether a doc "walks the walk" or merely "talks the talk" are two different things. Think of it as a doc who SAYS they practice asepsis but doesn't wash his or her hands in between patients, drops instruments on the floor and then uses them or sneezes on their patients. I'm not making this up. Patients MUST interview with a list of questions and request other patients who they may contact (docs should have a list of patients who don't mind having their names released OR the doctor's office will contact those patients and have them call the interested party.)
Bob--you say you taught at a med school (as did I) and I must tell you that US med schools are VERY different than what happens here. Secondly, even in US med schools, there has been an on-going battle of the interventionists vs the non-interventionists. I suspect we are on the opposite ends of what we consider "normal natural childbirth."
Paz y salud,
DrChrisHE
