A quacktivist is a person who proselytizes demonstrably false medical claims with cult-like intensity. The anti-vax folks are quacktivists by definition. Jenny McCarthy is a quacktivist and so is Joe Mercola. Andrew Wakefield is a quacktivist extraordinaire. Natural childbirth is promoted by its own band of quactivist. There are entire organizations devoted to natural childbirth [...]
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Pregnancy isn’t a disease … but neither is a gunshot wound and both kill
I realize that homebirth advocates tend to lack basic knowledge of science, statistics and human physiology. I also realize that they are gullible and easily manipulated by others into believing they are “achieving” something by having a homebirth. That’s why they are so eager to acceept complete and utter falsehoods about childbirth. Nonetheless, there are [...]
Who cares about the babies who die at homebirth?
Bitter grief is often an unselfish motivator. Consider organizations like Mothers Against Drunk Driving, started by parents who suffered the ultimate loss, to ensure that other parents would not have to endure the death of a child. Consider the various laws named after children who were abducted and murdered, championed by parents who wanted to [...]
Homebirth midwife: “I’ll be honest, I’m not really into the baby.”
Over the years I’ve written many damning things about homebirth midwives, but nothing as damning as what they write about themselves. My central contention about American homebirth midwives (CPMs) is that they are under educated, undertrained hobbyists who care more about their experience than whether the baby and mother are injured or die. Along comes [...]
All I really need to know to be a homebirth midwife I learned before kindergarten
I propose a new motto for homebirth midwives: All I really need to know to be a homebirth midwife I learned before kindergarten. By the end of kindergarten, most children recognized that their thoughts do not have the power to affect events. Homebirth midwives never learn this. They actually believe that “affirmations” can affect outcomes. [...]
Homebirth 2012: death toll and more
Thinking about homebirth? Think again. All the women below thought homebirth was a great idea, their bodies were “made to birth” and they were “educated” and their midwives were competent. They were wrong, and you might be wrong, too. Is this fear-mongering? Damn straight it is! Only a fool doesn’t fear and respect the risk [...]
Midwifery Today, a journal of buffoonery
Are you thinking about having a homebirth with an American homebirth midwife? If so, ask yourself if you really want to entrust the life of your child and yourself to a woman who “learns” how to manage life threatening complications from the “hints and tips” of other homebirth midwives? Consider the following from the Facebook [...]
Yes the baby died, but my homebirth midwife was awesome
Another homebirth, another dead baby, another loss mother proclaiming that her midwife was really, really nice to her. In this particular case it is not clear whether baby Sarah would have survived had the mother been under the care of an obstetrician, since the baby may or may not have had congenital anomalies; but there [...]
A woman’s virtue is not in her vagina
For most of human history a woman was judged by her vagina, specifically what went into it. As in the rest of the animal world, the male human’s greatest fear was of being cuckolded, raising another male’s child as his own. Hence the elaborate attempts to ensure virginity and fidelity, ranging from female genital mutilation [...]
Thank goodness I chose homebirth for the shoulder dystocia that nearly killed my baby
I’ve always believed that there is no limit to which a homebirth advocate will not go to rationalize her decision to have a homebirth. Now I’ve had that belief confirmed. A woman whose son suffered a severe shoulder dystocia, was born lifeless, waited 25 minutes for an ambulance and had to endure cooling therapy to [...]
Amy Tuteur, MD
Dr. Amy Tuteur is an obstetrician gynecologist. She received her undergraduate degree from Harvard College in 1979 and her medical degree from Boston University School of Medicine in 1984. Dr. Tuteur is a former clinical instructor at Harvard Medical School. She left the practice of medicine to raise her four children. Her book, How Your Baby Is Born, an illustrated guide to pregnancy, labor and delivery was published by Ziff-Davis Press in 1994. She can be reached at DrAmy5 at aol dot com.
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