PA Court tells State Medical Board to shove it

Big news in the midwifery world on Friday. I know lots of people across the country were tuned in to hear the outcome of this one. Thankfully, the humans came to their senses and an innocent midwife pervailed!

Diane Goslin has been a practicing midwife for like 25 years, and she's attended over 3,000 births. In that time, she has received one (ONE!) complaint against her - and it wasn't even by a parent or family she was serving. It was by a coroner, who examined an infant's body from a birth she had attended. You see, the coroner found the infant's death had nothing to do with the birth or the midwife, but he didn't like that the midwife had attended the birth at all so he complained to the PA Medical Board. What a kind fellow.

So Diane was ordered to cease and desist her midwifery practice and was brought up on numerous charges, including practicing medicine without a license, and given $11,000 in fines. Diane is a Certified Professional Midwife (CPM), an internationally-recognized certification for midwives. But silly Pennsylvania doesn't recognize them and therefore won't give them licenses of any kind. There were a bunch of rulings, and it looked like homebirth midwifery was about to be shutdown in Pennsylvania. But Diane fought hard, and she had thousands of supporters along the way. Save Homebirth joined the fight. The Amish and Mennonite (Diane's primary customers) came out in full force to support her. You can see some amazing pictures here.

Well, it all worked. Diane won. The court decided that practicing midwifery was not the same as practicing medicine, and therefore Diane wasn't guilty of practicing medicine without a license. AND, the court gave the PA Medical Board a slap on the wrist for trying to claim she was practicing as a nurse-midwife, because the Board is only allowed to police women who are trying to do this, and at no time did Diane advertise or call herself a CNM. PLUS, the court decided Diane was denied due process in these charges. Wow. You can read the final ruling here.

This is amazing news for all supporters of midwifery and homebirth. Midwifery is not "practicing medicine" and it should never be judged as such. Midwives should never be prevented from practicing because of misunderstandings about what they do. If states are afraid of midwifery (and that is what it comes down to here - FEAR), they need to take the time to learn what a midwife does and what a midwife doesn't do. If they would open their minds just a little, they would realize that supporting midwifery (and specifically homebirth midwifery) is not only cheaper, but better for the health of mother and baby.

Man, I'm so glad Pennsylvania saw the light. And now onto the local fight - whether or not Oregon will begin mandatory licensure for all practicing midwives (it is currently optional). OMC (Oregon Midwifery Council) is debating how to coordinate a unified front and what they should be arguing for. More to come...

Pushing pedals

We took our inaugural bike ride around town this morning. We've had our Burley for over a year, and my bike is brand new but has collected dust for a year. We got both while I was immensely pregnant, and the Burley isn't fit for infants, so we knew it would be a while before we hit the streets. But we made it out today and it was great! Both kids loved it and wore their helmets without a peep. We cruised the neighborhood in search of "For Sale" signs...yep, we're kinda sorta house-hunting.

Homebirth montage

I linked to this before but want to imbed it now so I can find it easily in the future. Amazing photos...

Vaginal Birth of Twins and Triplets!

This is awesome inspiration for those not interested in an automatic cesarean with multiples. The lady named Lindsey has been my friend for years, and the lady named Lisa is an online aquaintance.

D-O-N-E!!

This morning I turned my final revisions into the graduate school for my dissertation. It almost required a degree just to turn it in and meet all the requirements (10x13 inch manila envelope with metal clasp with 2 flyleafs, 3 extra title pages, 1 extra signed abstract, taped title page on front, receipt for archiving fee, etc etc). My revisions were pretty simple - took about 3 days. As of this afternoon, my online transcript says "Doctor of Philosophy degree requirements met on May 8, 2008." DONE DONE DONE DONE!!!

In other news, I've attended two births in the last two weeks too. Birth stories coming soon. One was a 92-hour marathon birth (I was only present for the last 25 hours). The other was an induction with hx of embolism complications that ended well with 4 hours of pushing. Both were good. Can't believe I fit them in there with all the defense stuff going on.

So now I'm taking a little time off from school. Gonna work on relaxing and reclaiming my sanity and health, develop my childbirth classes a bit, go see a movie, and go meet some new babies...

FREEDOM!!!!!!

Welcome Baby D!!

Super-duper happy for Franny and Dave as they welcomed Baby D at 2:24 this morning. :) Can't wait to see him! Congrats guys!

Doctor

Firefly Mama, PhD

I think I like the ring to that.

Defense went well today. First I presented my research in a quick 30-minute seminar, which was followed by a brief Q&A from the public. Then I had 2 hours of grilling from the profs. They excused me for 30 minutes, then brought me back in to shake my hand. Pretty good feeling being part of the club. Finally. Now I'm tired. Got a birth coming up in the next few hours too.

T-minus 6 days

Life is crazy as I prepare to defend my PhD next Thursday. I can't barely keep up with things. Plus, I attended a marathon 92-hour birth earlier this week (I was only there for 25 of those hours). And I've got another mama due tomorrow too. How did all this stuff end up happening at the same time?

Cool thing this week was picking up my cap and gown. When you become a Dr, they give you very fancy robes.

Honda Odyssey ad

Merck is evil

Merck, makers of the infamous Vioxx, as well as a suite of pediatric and adult vaccines, has not only been marketing drugs they knew were dangerous, they've also been covering up death in drug trials and hiring prominent physicians to sign their name on research that Merck was doing in-house (to make it look legit, so it could prove the safety of their drugs). JAMA has been so kind as to allow free access to these two important articles. You can read about ghostwriting here and death cover-ups here.

Sadly, I am not surprised. I would bet all the drug companies are into this practice. It makes me sick though.

For vaccines, Merck makes Varicella, MMR, one of the HepBs, one of the Hibs (which was recently recalled for other problems), the Hib/HepB combo, one of the HepAs, and one of the Pneumococcals. Wonder much foulplay was involved in the studies proving the "safety" of these vaccines...

Sweet rides and happy days

Picked up the new minivan last night. It is soooooo nice. I'm in love! It feels so big and luxurious compared to our past vehicles. And now today it is GORGEOUS outside, and I got my final comments back from my professor on my dissertation, and he LIKES it! This are looking good today. I think this afternoon we're gonna go out for a joy ride.

Big Blue

We bought a new car today. :) Got a good deal too...over $1000 under invoice. We get it on Wednesday or Thursday. I can't wait!

Can you find Barack in this picture?

Barack, I think I love you

I'm only a week late in sharing this news...but hey, I've been busy lately.

I saw Barack Obama. In person. Not from the nosebleed section at a rally, no. On the street. Shaking hands (he didn't get to mine though). Standing in front of the pizza restaurant (American Dream) I was trying to get into to. I was close enough to see his skim blemishes. Ten feet maybe? He's kinda like a drug...makes you want to do stupid shit for him. I wanted to run up and throw my arms and legs around him in a great big hug, but I was pretty sure my kids would miss me while I spent the night in jail. I can't believe how electrifying I feel in his presence. It is pretty freaky. For the first time, I feel like I understand the power behind some of the major political movements of the past...such as for JFK and RFK. And I think I am beginning to understand how devasting it would be to lose some as strong as say...MLK. I feel it in my heart that Obama will be our next President, but I also can't shake the feeling he will face more than a few assassination attempts. Thankfully, he travels with an army of secret service types. I saw far more of them than I did of him on the street that day. I'd show you my hastily-snapped cell phone pic, but it is a blurry mob of suits, coats, and the backs of people's heads.

Simon's Cat 'Let Me In!'

More fun with Simon's cat