[SSUleader]

We are a group of 4 nursing students interested in the politics of home births. We are especially interested in learning about malpractice insurance and how it relates to home births. Please reply with any information or suggestions of where to look. Thank you so much!

[monica f]

I have a mother in-law who highly recommends at home births. This is a group of families that home school and home birth all of their children. What I have learned is that the people in this group are "highly religious" or make it appear that way and have multiple children. When I say multiple children I mean on the upwards of 5. One reason of having children in the home is cost. I do not believe in having children at home. I have seen a lot of older women having children at home. This is a little high risk, espically since they are over 40.
You will find a lot of the time that there are groups of family who do this and they all go to the same church, school, and all of their friends are in this group.

I hope this helps some.

Good luck

[Naomi, RN]

Hi ....
I loved bumping into a fellow student online. This technology interaction btw. nurses may be much more than we think....
I was looking for web resources on midwifery for another class the other day and found some sites that you might find helpful.

Try: www.midwife.org/WEB/index.htm
www.efn.org/~djz/birth/midwifefaq/intro.html
www.midwiferytoday.com
www.shef.ac.uk/-nhcon/mid.htm

The last one I found through a web site found in a regular column in MCN Journal on networking for nurses. It is a fabulous site and I even joined their listserv for perinatal nurses. It is put together by a Nursing Professor at U. Of Buffalo, NY. There are many resourses for midwifery there and lots of international ones too!

Have fun, I will try to check back on your forum, the topic is interesting and controversial (sp?).

Naomi, R.N.

[Naomi, RN]

Hi there again, I wish I knew who you were, and I can't believe I found yourforum again. I received this question on my perinatal listserv from a cnm. Seems to directly relate to politics of home birth.
Seems I can't paste it here. The question is about a rumor that NRP instructors are being told not to certify those who are not delivering babies in hospitals. She is looking for truth or lie in this rumor.
Send me a private e-mail and I will forward what comes of the list for you! Naomi, RN

[SSUleader]

Originally posted by Naomi, RN:
Hi there again, I wish I knew who you were, and I can't believe I found yourforum again. I received this question on my perinatal listserv from a cnm. Seems to directly relate to politics of home birth.
Seems I can't paste it here. The question is about a rumor that NRP instructors are being told not to certify those who are not delivering babies in hospitals. She is looking for truth or lie in this rumor.
Send me a private e-mail and I will forward what comes of the list for you! Naomi, RN

Hi Naomi,
Thanks for posting all of those resources. That really is an interesting rumor. We would love to hear more about it. We have a group e-mail: ssuleader@hotmail.com. Have you found any information regarding malpractice insurance and home births?
Thanks again.

[Penguinelane]

Originally Posted by SSUleader

We are a group of 4 nursing students interested in the politics of home births. We are especially interested in learning about malpractice insurance and how it relates to home births. Please reply with any information or suggestions of where to look. Thank you so much!

mana.org
cfmidwifery.org
midwiferytoday.com

The out of hospital practice with which i have worked did have MedMal, and it was only about $7000/year. The out of hospital midwife is an excellent risk. Dean Insurance may still be offering MedMal.

I, personally have two children, both born at home, and the families I have attended have not been specifically more or less religious than those I see in the rest of the population. I have attended first up to 6th births, but most are having between their first and third child.

Neonatal Recus. is offered by many people, and often those in a homebirth situation take the course together as do those working within a particular facility. Do searches for Karen Strange and Nell Tharpe.

There is not a midwife I know who would agree to attend a client knowing the client was making the decision to birth out of hospital to save money. In fact, most people are insured or can be insured. Homebirth costs around $3000. I payed out of pocket twice. Many of the families I have attended have paid out of pocket in addition to paying for private insurance.

There, of course, are screening criteria that need to be met as a client. The British Medical Journal just published a large study on the safety of homebirth in America. I was a part of the data collection for this study. It mirrors the other data we have on the safety of homebirth, and that is that when comparing low-risk women in the hospital to low-risk women at home, homebirth is at least as safe as, if not safer than hospital birth. The real differences, however, are seen in morbidity. There were many more episiotomies, 3rd and 4th degree tears, and other factors contributing to morbidity. Many more in the hospital group had cesareans. The US is at over 29%, while the World Health Organization has targeted 10-15% overall as the limit.

As far as the politics of homebirth, I have been involved in legislation in several states.

[TinyNurse]

I had my son at home, and I don't think my lay midwife ( in ohio) had malpractice insurance. My family paid out of pocket for me to have a homebirth. I was on medicaid at the time so a hospital birth would have been paid for by taxpayers.

Also, the rumor about NRP instructors not certifying those don't deliver babies in hospitals is false. I'm an ER nurse, and have never delivered a baby, and I have my NRP cert.

[SmilingBluEyes]

PLEASE NOTE:

This thread is nearly 6 years old and the Original Posters likely long-gone.

[mednurse]

Are there any home birth nurses out there that carry malpractice insurance, and if so why?

[phriedomRN]

I would imagine any person having any part of a birth, be it at home or not, would have to have malpractice insurance and a significant amount of it. Regardless of prenatal screening and the most competent of attendants, sometimes things will still go wrong. One day of watching TV and seeing all the commercials for "birth injury lawyers" will prove that point. It also proves that people simply can't accept that sometimes $hit happens, no matter how qualified and careful the MD/CNM is. We live in lawsuit-happy times.