An OB/GYN Responds #2
I am an ob/gyn, 7 months out of residency, practicing in a busy downtown seattle ob/gyn office. I saw your documentary last night and went into it thinking I was going to be angered…but instead I found it insightful and thought provoking. In my 7 months of practicing ob, I have been appalled at my c-section rate, my epidural rate, my vacuum rate and my tear rate. I have not enjoyed delivering babies the way I have been doing it and I strongly agree with your film’s point that ob care in the US is in a crisis. I want to help change things, and to change the way I practice. How can I help? How do I continue to practice as a MD but deliver babies in a safe and more natural way?
Heather says:
Please educate your patients. Read the books they are reading, go to the doula organization websites (cappa.net, dona.org) and get the reading lists. Make friends with the doulas and refer out to them so that your patients may make informed decisions. Encourage them to ask questions. Spend more than two minutes with them at each appointment. Make yourself a presence in their special time in life. They want your help and they need it. Just try to present it in a personal light, not so much medical. Work with local midwives.
I wish you the best of luck. We are all trying our hardest. One more person makes a difference to someone.
denise says:
Brava to you! I’m also a new doctor, 12 months out of residency. ALthough Ob/Gyn isn’t my specialty, I am too frustrated/disgusted/appaled/annoyed by the state of helathcare/insurance in this country!
I have actually opted out of insurance plans and see patients who pay what they can (sometimes in food, sometimes in love if thats all they have) and I’m sooooo much happier!
ALthough I may never pay my exorbinat med school loans (200 thousand ) I’m super happy in my life and KNOW that I make a difference in my patietns life! Oh… and I do housecalls!
Sarah says:
Denise you are amazing. Thank god for a dr. like you who is in it for helping people not for the 000s in the salary.
I’m too “rich” for medicaid but to poor for insurance so i go it alone in the medical area… self diagnosis anyone.