Sad story

AOX4RN, MSN, RN, NP · May 27, 2011

It's not that they don't have to be licensed, there is no regulation in MI at this time. Big difference.

arabianeyez83 · May 28, 2011

There is no regulation to be licensed ...sounds the same to me...anyways..had no idea :)

AOX4RN, MSN, RN, NP · May 28, 2011

It might sound the same but it isn't. For example, in Oregon, it's optional to be licensed as a direct-entry midwife. Meaning, you can get licensed and follow a scope of practice and get certain prescriptive privileges along with Medicaid reimbursement... or not and get none of that. Either way, you're still legally practicing. In CA there is regulation of direct-entry midwives so if you're practicing midwifery but don't have a license, you're illegal. In IL, direct-entry midwives are flat out illegal. In MI there is no regulation so you're neither practicing legally or illegally. And as you can see, without a legal definition, the consumers and midwives don't have much to fall back on, especially when things go terribly wrong.

arabianeyez83 · Jun 2, 2011

I see, thanks for that explanation...it's all a bit confusing

klone, MSN, RN · Jun 2, 2011

That midwife sounds scary and dangerous. NARM revoked her CPM credentials. Her quote was chilling ("I've delivered 750 babies successfully and only 3 have died."). That's 1 in 250 babies, for someone who is supposed to screen for risk factors. That seems extremely high to me, for someone who is supposed to handle only low-risk pregnancies.

Just googled, and I guess 4 deaths out of 1000 is typical for midwives, and still much lower than 9-14 deaths out of 1000 for OBs. It just sounded high to me.

arabianeyez83 · Jun 11, 2011

Ya this really made me mad, makes midwives look unsafe.

planteater · Sep 13, 2011

I don't think it makes midwives look unsafe. It seems pretty clear in the article, that there are midwives who do undergo good training and that they are just trying to get a system in place to protect mothers from midwives like this one- who obviously isn't doing something right. I think states who do not license are bad for midwives all over the country because things like this happen and there is no one to discipline this "midwife". Then, there are news stories like this and readers only look at the first half of the article and think that all midwives are dangerous.....