Awww, Katie Jenkins McCall (remember Sisters in Chains) is feeling angry.
Why? Because her buddy, self-proclaimed “midwife” Vicki Dawn Sorensen, was arrested just because she allegedly presided over the death of a very premature baby after insisting that homebirth would be fine, interfered with an ambulance crew trying to rescue a hemorrhaging mother, lied on medical records, and may have multiple dead babies buried on her property.
Well, you know what, Katie? I’m feeling angry, too.
I’m feeling angry because ignorant, arrogant, irresponsible clowns like you support homebirth with ignorant, arrogant, irresponsible self-proclaimed midwives who fail to meet the basic qualifications for midwives in ALL other industrialized countries.
I’m angry because it doesn’t matter a damn to you that babies die at the hands of these ignorant, arrogant, clowns like yourself. All that appears to matter to you and your buddies, is your pocketbook.
I’m angry because you confuse your ability to fleece unsuspecting pregnant women with “birth freedom.” The only freedom you and your buddies appear to be interested in is the freedom from safety standards, taking responsibility and being held accountable.
I’m angry because it in your privileged white, middle class woman way you think YOU are persecuted just because a bunch of babies are dying preventable deaths at the hands of your buddies. You have no idea what persecution is.
You have no idea what ethics is, either. Ethics involves caring about the LIVES of the babies in your care. It involves caring about the LIVES of the pregnant women in your care. It does not involve your ability to profit despite your substandard education, substandard training, and overweening arrogance in thinking that you are capable of caring for human beings.
Donating to a legal fund for any midwife who is accused of hideously negligent substandard care because you like homebirth is like donating to the Aaron Hernandez defense fund because you like football. It betrays a fundamental contempt for the lives of the people you are supposed to serve.
Does Sorensen deserves a lawyer. Of course she does, and the State of Utah is obligated to provide her with a public defender, not a “lay” lawyer, not a self-proclaimed “lawyer,” not an self taught “lawyer.” Although homebirth “midwives” think that “lay,” “self-proclaimed” and “self-taught” are okay when it comes to medical care for women and babies, they are concerned enough about their own hides that they don’t want to settle for a public defender, but want to hire a professional who requires a $50,000 retainer. It would be the height of irony if it weren’t so tragic.
Katie, I have some unsolicited advice for you and your buddies:
Stop pretending that you are midwives; you are poorly educated, poorly trained lay people.
Stop attending homebirths. Too many babies have died because of clowns like you.
Stop prattling about “birth freedom.” This has nothing to do with freedom and everything to do with responsibility.
Stop giving new meaning to the term “blood money” by donating to support women who should not be allowed to care for anyone, let alone vulnerable women and babies.
And please, please, please stop feeling sorry for yourselves! You are not oppressed. You are not persecuted. You are just ignorant, arrogant and terribly dangerous.
wrong place
Avi from A Million Gods weighs in on the Sorensen tragedy:
http://freethoughtblogs.com/amilliongods/2014/06/09/vickie-sorensen-natural-birth-home-birth-midwifery-and-deadly-consequences/
He’s also not a fan of the kind of MDs who encourage mothers to forgo medical care…
“It would be the height of irony if it weren’t so tragic.”
“You are not oppressed. You are not persecuted. You are just ignorant, arrogant and terribly dangerous.”
Truer words never spoken.
THE BABY IS WEARING A HAT!!! Isn’t that enough to tell you she is a terrible midwife?? 😛
Are babies not supposed to wear hats? Sorry, if that is a stupid question, but its been awhile since I’ve been around newborns..
It’s a reference to one of the weirdest things an NCB writer has ever said, “No hatting, chatting or patting.” I think she claimed that putting hats on newborns causes bonding problems, or postpartum depression or something.
In fact, newborns wear adorable knit caps to stay warm.
Perhaps the oddest thing about the picture below (sorry, I’m not going to comment below it because I don’t want to look at that thing again) is that the mom is actually wearing a top.
I thought you were supposed to have boobs hanging out so you could start breastfeeding right away?
I puzzle over that too, Bofa, but I see a lot of waterbirth pics where mom has a top (it’s always a bikini top–why? does she think in her pain-addled brain that she’s at the beach?) on. It mystifies me because we in the hospital try to facilitate skin-to-skin contact for the first few hours. One can’t exactly ascribe it to modesty, KWIM? And no point in having the boob out and ready to go if the babe has to be semi-immersed in the water to keep from getting cold. The whole thing is so nutty.
Because a bikini top makes you look sportive, daring, fit, whatever? As for why cover the boobs… Well, of course, so it can be posted on Facebook! They are notorious for not allowing the sight of an areola, even though shocking pics of all sorts don’t run afoul of their guidelines.
We have a winner!
They wear them because they cannot post pics of their conquest without their bobs covered. Sure, they can send them to a few people, but sites where they want them to be admired, like FB, ban topless pics.
Guess what, Katie? I’m mad as hell too! Go ahead and keep fundraising for “midwives” who clearly have no morals. They’re going to need your help while those of us who possess brains keep working to get you clowns legislated out of existence.
From what I’ve read of the original charges against McCall, she screwed up for sure, but was not in the same realm as the horror shows she’s fundraising for. What the hell is she doing? And it’s a real shame, because she seems intelligent and capable enough to have gone through a quality CNM program in the first place, before joining the loony bin club.
Oh, I agree that what she did isn’t even in the same universe as this clusterfuck! I am utterly baffled that anyone would support the midwives involved in this current horror show.
I’ve asked before…
What did she do that was out of the ordinary for homebirth midwives?
Twins? No
Deny involvement? No
Fail to do correct resuscitation? No
“We can transfer to the hospital if it gets bad”? No
“That hospital is too mean to me”? No
Seriously, the only thing that makes this case unusual in how they acted, maybe, is the prematurity.
Other than that, it’s not atypical for homebirth midwives. How can they honestly criticize it?
I think babies buried in the back yard makes her the “winner” in the psycho midwife competition.
Then again, that is merely alleged, and therefore easily denied by her supporters.
OT, but have you heard about the planned reality show “Born in the wild”?
http://insidetv.ew.com/2014/06/04/birth-in-the-wild-reality-debate/
I presume you are using the term “clowns” because the more accurate one, “criminals” might leave you open to legal problems.
IMO, these women are either criminals, or,for those who support them, accessories.
The more I read of the incident, the more horrible it is. Sorenson forced “something” down the baby’s throat, went looking for oxygen, found a broken bottle, tried to find another, then used an out-of-date resuscitation technique because she didn’t know any better.
She told the paramedics that the woman wasn’t a patient and had just come in off the street. She didn’t tell them that the woman was still in labor. She came running after the ambulance, yelling, demanding the woman come back to the birthing center. It’s just so disgusting. So sleazy. Lying to the mother, saying she regularly delivered twins. Lying to the paramedics. Lying about her certification status. Carrying illegal drugs. What a disgusting crook.
Here’s a nice picture from the support Vickie page:
Gah! That poor baby 🙁
What color is that?
What the heck is it with HB midwives and horrible-colored babies? I know that bad outcomes were all too common back in the day, but even 200 years ago, I would imagine most full-term lbabies came out pink! Is it the water birth that does it?
However it happens, why do the midwives not see anything WRONG with these pictures? Why are they brag pictures? Hey, look, it’s another baby who came out white, or grey, or purple! Can we perhaps try for neon orange next time!
My husband was commenting on this-to him, having only seen babies born at home, our children were the “wrong color” and he was afraid there was something wrong to make them so red. Turns out he thought all babies are born looking like the one in the picture
Why is that, though? Can the medical providers here explain that?
Its called cyanosis. It is the same colour an adult has in ED just before they die from failed resuscitation. It relates to the level of haemoglobin in your blood that is not carrying oxygen.
In summary, it is not a good colour and usually means you don’t have enough oxygen in your blood.
But the placenta is still pulsing!! Babies can go without oxygen for 20 minutes!! Lavender is the color of life – I read it on a meme!!
Crowd sourcing and memes in lieu of real medical knowledge and advice… color of life?! Professionally, to me lavender means I have a long day in front of me….
You can’t truly equate it to hypoxaemia in adults, b/c the baby is full of fetal haemoglobin, which has a different O2 dissociation curve, and it’s just emerged from a hypoxic environment. O2 sats of 60-70% are normal in the first minute (and they will not be pink with that!), what’s important is that they should start to rise quickly after that, in the next couple of minutes.
What is bad news is the white-looking neonate, because that means those tissues don’t have a good blood supply. The blue/purple ones at least have that (but of course need to be monitored to ensure they are breathing enough, heart rate is adequate.
I don’t believe there is enough info to declare that baby persistently hypoxic because we don’t know how long it’s been there, however it is sure going to get stressed by lying with a wet towel on it – I hope they got everyone out quickly.
The baby also looks cold. I may be wrong on this, but the face makes me think it’s shivering. Plus, it’s wet and no one’s drying it off. Actually, it looks semi-immersed still. Why is this a good idea?
Just what you want when you’re short on oxygen. A tepid bath with a soppy towel weighing you down.
Taking the photo is obviously more important than making sure the baby is comfortable… Here again we have parents and/or midwives using the baby as a prop in a spectacle. 🙁
That baby is completely cyanotic, look at the color if his lips! If I was paged to this birth, my first impression would have been, ” Oh, shit does he have a heartbeat?!”
About a month ago, there was a link to a site with a mummy baby. Yes, I said mummy baby. Worse than this one here. Of course, it was a home waterbirth “success”. I can still see the father’s stupid grinning face.
Well, this baby could definitely be confused for dead.
Don’t you know that is a good color, doctors are just prejudiced against grey
My guess is because the ones who flash pictures have something to prove. At some point they were told they were a lemon (i.e. someone dared to help them have a live healthy baby) and they are showing the world that’s not true. Therefore they are predisposed to have a less than ideal outcome in the first place.
My kid was that color when born, but they said he had good apgar scores. This was a hospital with doctors. My sister thought he was dead and she said she almost puked. I thought he looked peaceful. He was only that color and quiet for a second, but that second felt like forever. My point is, maybe that baby is an ok color, cause it only was that color very briefly.
Well, they do have a whole 60 seconds to “study” for their first Apgar. I guess he learned breathing fast, like most of them do.
A baby can be born looking like that and with appropriate resuscitation, nrp guidelines, get a good 1 minute apgar. But not if you let it lie there with a wet blanket over it for that first minute. At the 30 second mark you should move to pos pressure ventilation if needed, and often it just a takes 1 or 2 breaths to get them pink and yelling by a minute. But you have to MOVE.
“But not if you let it lie there with a wet blanket over it for that first minute.” And doesn’t that expose right there how a great portion of this type of homebirth nonsense is about mom’s experience, NOT the health of the baby? They don’t see it that way, of course. They’ve come up with all sorts of reasons why it’s healthier, but it’s all lies.
I don’t think they see it as a problem at all. I had a water birth with my second baby, and the homebirth midwife warned my husband ahead of time that after a water birth, babies often look a little purple and take a little longer to breath, but that it was “all normal” and no cause for concern. I can’t remember exactly how my baby looked when he was born, but he was definitely a little purple, and it took a while for him to turn a normal color. Due to my midwife’s coaching, I thought it was fine.
Polite request– can these pictures be linked instead of embedded? 🙁
Yes, sorry, my first instinct is to screenshot. And usually I have to click on the pictures to reveal them but I realized that’s only on the mobile version.
I think if this baby was born in the hospital they would have called a code and the RRT would have been paged. I would have freaked out if my son was born that color and would have been screaming for RRT!
What worries me most is the limp hands. Lack of tone. Yuck. I wonder how many minutes have passed since the birth.
I cringe looking at this picture because this baby was in serious need of O2, a warming bed and some serious intervention. Being born into a cesspool and being hypoxic is definitely not good for his brain function. These parents should be beyond mortified and ashamed of themselves for being so selfish and allowing this child to linger in a tepid bath while he.needs medical care stat.
Purple. His lips are purple.
Katie McCall sounds like she wants to start her own “Farm”
Here is the link on her blog, it mentions that this place she is living “offers midwifery services” http://stonefarmlibertyacres.wordpress.com/about/
And here is the link to the midwifery page. They do “Freebirth Childbirth Education”
http://sacredtransitionsmidwifery.org/midwifery
I looked at the link. It has been awhile, but I don’t recall bringing a coloring book and colored pencils to my medical school classes.
I am also willing to bet that your professors didn’t give you points for using the word yoni and none of your textbooks were written by laypeople.
It’s true that none of the textbooks were written by lay people, but don’t be so sure about the yoni points. OB attendings have senses of humor too. A rare and well placed use of the word yoni in an otherwise very dry and technical morning case report might indeed win a point.
Ha! I’m totally going to work “yoni” into report sometime.
In fairness I definitely colored in my first year anatomy classes and textbook. Black and white line drawings – ick. Helped me a lot in visualizing each one separately, insertions and origins if they were colored. A lot of my classmates did that actually. But not really any coloring in any other classes or books.
(Puts hand up) – I colored my anatomy drawings too! And (true confession warning): I still love coloring!
I own the “anatomy coloring book”. Am I trained, then?
Can you sew?
I’ve actually learned suturing on mice, and sutured them up after micro-surgery. It’s been a while, but I suspect that makes me more qualified to suture people than Katie here, and I have no formal anatomy training.
More importantly, can you knit? Cause you have to do something while you sit in the corner for days “holding the space”.
Think any of them ever tried knitting a perineum back together?
That reminds me of the most popular item on loan at my college library’s reference desk: Skeleton-in-a-box. Every time I walk into the library, 2-3 anatomy students are playing with it on a table, putting it together, etc.
Jesus. That’s my state. I can’t wait until we have to start cleaning up the messes from this place…
Damn, I’m sorry.
Make sure you acquaint yourself with what Katie McCall looks like and what caused her to lose her midwifery license in California.
http://supportmidwifekatiemccall.wordpress.com/about/ this is her version via her blog.
http://childbirthsolutions.com/founders-message/katie-mccall-is-a-hero-and-should-be-given-accolades-not-prosecuted/ despite the “she is being persecuted” typical stuff, this tells details of the birth that she assisted with that ultimately caused her to be disciplined. In short, she attended a birth without her preceptor, shoulder dystocia and the mother “had a tear that tore an artery” which McCall then “sewed shut”
The state of California made her “nearly starve to death”!
Yes, and she had to do community service. Of course. All they told her not to do was practice midwifery. She wasn’t barred from working in the state all together, just not practice medicine without a license. She was also in practice with Stuart Fishbein at one point, she worked at the same birth center (he was an honorary Sister in Chains)
She is anti woman for even working with that guy.
“tear that tore an artery” ?!?!?!? “sewed shut” ?!?!?!?!? This is unbelievable.
According to Bonnie Matheson, owner of Childbirth Solutions, suturing a wound is the same as sewing a piece of torn clothing. Pretty sure my clothes and kids toys don’t require anaesthetic before I work on them.
(I have been known to give the toys a pretend dose of anaesthetic from a toy syringe before working on them when asked to by our kids.)
Anesthetic is only for teddy bears who are too weak to live with the curse of childbirth pain handed down from Eve’s teddy bear’s betrayal in the garden of Eden. Or something.
With apologies to Star Wars, the teddy bears should embrace the pain and let it flow through them.
Is that Star Wars or Dune? I like the Litany Against Fear, actually!
I love the Litany Against Fear too! I was thinking about Star Wars when I wrote it, but it does sound like it could be either.
Well, that’s only for Christian teddy bears. Jewish teddy bears aren’t encumbered with Original Sin.
Also, I tend to lick the thread when sewing cloth. Pretty sure it’s a bad idea when sewing people.
No, no. Wild animals lick wounds and they heal just fine, so a little saliva on the thread should be fine. We’ll just give it a fancy name, claim it’s supporting the natural balance of bacteria, and charge an excessive price.
(Which oddly enough, reminds me of the Jungle Doctor books)
That shows you how much she has sutured and it terrifies me for all the women who have been victims of her suturing skills
I agave the greatest respect for the suturing skills OBs possess. It’s in my scope to suture simple lacerations but anyone who has watched a skilled surgeon repairing a complex lac would never say what that idiot did.
“Repairs to tears, are more like mending one’s torn clothes. (and you don’t need a plastic surgeon to sew up a tear, even an artery.)” this woman is an idiot.
I should go ahead and operate on my daughter’s eyes then. I sewed a new eye on my niece’s stuffed horse toy once.
Well that makes you an ophthalmologist, doesn’t it? I’m sure I read that on the internet once.
Way to go, Doc McStuffins….
Dammit Bofa, now I have the theme song stuck in my head! lol
Doc McStuffins is intervention happy-she doesn’t trust ANYTHING!
No doubt. She starts by checking her ears, your eyes, and finding out how much you’ve grown.
In my limited experience of sewing clothing, and of suturing humans, they are really very different..
tearing an artery? I imagine that requires some pretty specialised suturing… Either it’s true (in which case sewing the artery shut sounds like a really, really bad idea) or she has no idea what she’s looking at and called some random body part an artery… Wouldn’t an artery be pumping out a lot of blood? That poor woman.
The mother was supposedly hemorrhaging and Katie McCall stopped it. I doubt there were any torn arteries but I am willing to wager the actual tear was worse than she let on
A direct copy and paste from the second source: “But she did call an EMT worker just in case there was a problem But these people do not have nearly as much education and training as Katie does. The baby did actually have a problem, because it’s shoulders became stuck. But Katie knew how to dislodge them. The mother had a tear that ruptured and artery and Katie sued this closed.”
Sued closed? So…trust law then?
Edited to add: Why do they refer to the baby as an ‘it’? Are they deliberately dehumanising the baby or is my cynicism showing again?
No it is not your cynicism. It’s the fact that these women could care less about the actual baby while emphasizing the birth experience. Shoulder dystocia, whatever. Katie is so EDUCATED that it’s more important to talk about her sewing skills.
That’s something I really don’t understand because humans are not the same as fabric.
Sure there as similarities: there are layers, needing to line up the layers and edges properly, having the correct tension, using the right needle, stitch spacing, and so on. The difference is that if you screw up while sewing a living being back together, then you’re looking at potentially life-threatening complications. If you screw up while sewing fabric, you can unpick and redo or turn it into something else; the only damage is to your wallet.
Mine too! Ack.
Wonder if she delivers at the Monadnock Birth Center?
“We believe that mothers are the guardians of their own births and that a midwife’s role is to protect and nurture that autonomy. We offer a traditional midwifery program, a botanical midwifery program and a Christian midwifery program to help you further customize your path” it didn’t look like she is on staff there but this is the institute of midwifery she is running. Looks like she is trying really hard to reach anyone with any philosophy. Her place is also a bed and breakfast or lodging of some kind
211 Old Troy Rd. Fitzwilliam, NH 03447 (there is the address)
I’d love to slap a banner across that ad in big, red letters: RECIPE FOR DEATH.
Her blog is full of self-pity and denial, she will be in the news again real soon for maiming and endangering women and babies. I can’t imagine how any pregnant mother could justify using her “services.”
Totally a whiny dialogue about her mistreatment by the state of California. If she was doing mobile paint repair unlicensed and got caught by the clean air association in Washington (California has something much the same, a different name though) she would ALSO have to pay $10,000 and not be able to do mobile paint repair. No dealership would want her to be a vendor. Although no dealership would have taken her on as a vendor in the first place if she had no license and no business insurance. And mobile paint repair does not require stitches or management of shoulder dystocia. (( My husband is a mobile paint repair guy. He has to follow the rules or he is out of a job. Nobody would complain or start a fund me benefit if he willingly broke the laws))
You know I have just about enough. I thought we lived in America where woman can do with their bodies as they please. Where we can have an abortion and people like you think it is ok, but when a woman decides she wants to give birth at home you chastise her. Do I tell you how to take care of your self or your family? Have you ever met Katie McCall or had any kind of conversation with her? You judge without knowing and spew hatred and claim its opinion. Yes you are entitled to have one ( an opinion) but what you and this “Dr.” Amy fail to mention is a mothers right to birth as she pleases. What did we do before “gods”, Oh I mean doctors, attended births. Grow up get the facts! BTW I am in RN school had hospital births and I am a very medically minded woman. How dare you judge anyone look in the mirror before opening your mouth. Or in this case making a post.
Once one has decided to continue with a pregnancy, one has a duty of care towards the baby, and it is highly unethical to put one’s own experience before the baby’s safety.
This post is about unskilled midwives who charge money to attend high-risk home births, not about the mothers. You’ve got the right to buy anything you want, but I’ll eagerly criticize anyone who sell what she can’t deliver.
So you don’t understand the difference between wanted and unwanted pregnancy?
And their judgemental behaviour is more acceptable than ours, apparently.
So you have no problems with women who drink heavily during pregnancy?
How about drugs?
And car seats? Nope, they are optional, because no one is going to tell you how to take care of your family.
Right?
So much talk about rights, so little talk about responsibility.
We’ll see how fired about about “rights” she is when a train wreck homebirther comes in through the ER 56 hours into labor, after pushing for four hours, without a chart or the midwife and SHE is the nurse who has to do the admit.
Quite.
The only shadow in that picture is there will be a little one in dire danger and still not safe if mum and any attendants are still hell bent on avoiding ‘unnecessary’ interventions.
What part of posting two links comes across as judging? You are going to have to use your critical thinking skills before jumping into any conversation with both barrels. I suppose you agree with unlicensed laypeople calling themselves medical professionals then? I suppose you also are ok with laypeople performing procedures like suturing?
I can empathize to some extent with Katie McCall wanting to deliver babies, I trained as a home birth midwife and was a doula before and during that time. I ended up getting my RN and now see how much I didn’t know. I am still learning something everyday. You sound like you are passionate about patients rights, which is important. What is equally important is you understanding responsibility and how it relates to the care you are giving.
Are you familiar with Katie McCall’s page Sisters in Chains? It makes a comprehensive list of midwives who have killed or injured women and babies while supposedly caring for them. McCall defends every one of them, I don’t need to speak with her. Her actions speak louder than words about who and what she is.
You’re not even a nurse yet and you think you’re at all qualified to argue with someone that went to medical school, taught at medical school, practiced medicine, speaks before the ACOG? Why is that? Oh yea, because you’ve had a baby and you’re “medically minded”.
I freely judge anyone that wants to stand beside Vicki Sorenson rather than beside the parents of the DEAD BABY. Including you.
I am sorry the “medically minded” part made me lol.
What is interesting is that anyone who knows the facts and has read Katie McCall’s blogs and Facebook page would still want to align themselves with her.
A lot of the time, babies and/or mothers died. Whoops.
Oh the irony.
Seriously, why don’t you tell us the facts about infant and maternal mortality before we had doctors attending births?
I haven’t met all of the politiians caught in taking bribes, either. I don’t need to have had any conversation with them to have an opinion.
Medically minded, my ass. Rather “lying to women, convincing them that it’s safe for them to give us their money and then hide behind their autonomy” minded.
Choice rape. That’s what Katie McCall and by extension, you are defending.
Oh dear. You’ve completely discredited yourself by using the scare quotes around Dr. Amy.
Furthermore, if you took the time the read other posts on this blog, instead of reflexively posting mouth-frothing replies, you’d see Dr. Amy has said countless times that women should be allowed to birth as they choose. What should NOT be accepted is people posing as professionals, or worse actual trained professionals, spreading and encouraging misinformation and disinformation that leads to devastating outcomes.
Frankly, it does not bode well for your future career if you can’t clearly see that in her support of this midwife, Ms. McCall is doing a grave disservice to the safety of childbirth and is antithetical to health care in general.
When people practice medicine without proper training and continue to endanger the lives of innocent babies they should.not only be judged they should be arrested and thrown in jail. Once you get your RN and work the ER or NICU and actually have to deal with these poor babies with brain injuries, adjusting the vent and flow of oxygen, pushing meds on a perfect body with a dead or damaged brain knowing that the baby’s life is totally screwed and it’s brain as healthy mashed potatoes you will change your mind about the above statement. Or when you are bagging up a beautiful, perfect and dead baby to sent to the morgue. These “midwives” are nothing more than butchers of babies and deserve to be hung out to dry by society and the medical profession. They lie to ignorant woman and cheat them out of their money so they can live some sort of sick fantasy in which they are a healer and claim to help woman have positive births. Let me tell you, there is nothing positive about what these quacks do and Katie deserved more punishment than community service and getting run out of Cali. Katie is lucky the mom and baby lived otherwise she would be sitting in prison and hopefully prison is where Vicky ends up for being a liar, fraud & an all around sick and twisted individual. Yes, women have the right to birth at home, but just because you have the right to do something doesn’t mean it is something you should do or it is safe to do. Personally, I’m tired of all these homebirthers and their rights, because I’m tired of getting paged to try and save the
poor baby whose right to be born safely and alive is getting shit on and his brain function sacrificed in the name of homebirth. Trust me, once you see the damage people like Katie and Vicky cause from a professional stand point and the doctor calls a time of death and you are present when they tell the parents that their perfect
baby is dead because their ” midwife” was woefully inadequate during the emergency come back and tell us how you feel about these “midwives”.
life because their mom wanted to be selfis and was more concerned wither rights than the safety of her baby.
Oh and btw I recommend you change professions because talking some b.s like that to the “Gods” is going to get you chewed up and spit out over and over again. Maybe you should adjust your thinking by hitting the books a little harder and actually graduating before claiming to be “medically minded” while equating the rights of abortion to the rights of a mother choosing an unlicensed and dangerous “midwife” to deliver her wanted and full term baby. Their is no comparison and you are just going to make yourself look really stupid at school and work talking like that, no one will take you seriously.
First off, this is not America; this is the Internet and readers and commenters here span the globe. Secondly, most women who are incarcerated in America are there for prostitution or drug crimes. Does that sound like a country where women have “the right to do with there bodies as they please?”
You have the right to have an abortion but you do not have to give coat hanger abortion in your living room. If you get caught doing that you will be charged with practing medicine without a license.
Katie McCall is raising money to defend a woman who is responsible for the death of at least one baby and horrific mistreatment of at least one woman. I don’t have to sit down and have coffee talk with her to criticize her for it. I hate this “women have to support each other no matter what” bullshit. Women are strong enough to take criticism. If you do something stupid, dangerous or immoral I am going to call you out on it. Having a vagina is not immunity from criticism.
Oh, it looks like Ranee was a hit-and-run crusader.
HAHAHAHAHA!
Actually, I think it is too bad. I wish she would come back and address the responses.
Me too, I was actually hoping for a reply this morning. She is probably somewhere being “medically minded.” Hit-and-run crusader is hilarious either way
The “but mother’s RIGHTS” crew are always funny. It’s like, let’s say I wrote an article about how, say, furniture sold in giant tents tends to be lower-quality than furniture sold in stores, without warranty, and I’m angry that the tent sellers are cheating people, and I know someone who was badly hurt when his tent-purchased table collapsed. (I don’t know anything about furniture from tents, I’m just making up an example.)
I would think it was very strange if someone came along and started complaining that she had the right to purchase furniture from tents and how dare I restrict her freedom.
It would be completely missing the point. I’m not scolding you for trying to buy from a tent sale, I’m just advising you that it might be a bad idea.
Personally, I tend to think that “you support abortion but not homebirth” complaints are mostly anti-abortion screeds. It’s an attempt to show hypocrisy of the pro-choice position. That’s why my response was to differentiate between wanted and unwanted pregnancies.
Yeah, that is usually my point. You have the right, but it really isn’t a good idea
This is nothing but the “I have the right to my opinion (and to express that opinion), but you don’t have the right to express your opinion that my opinion is wrong” fallacy.
There should be a name for that fallacy somewhere.
I wonder if it would do any good to contact the venue? Is the bar’s owner related to the midwife?
this is a good idea. A little bad publicity never hurt.
I have a bone to pick with one of her hastags: #birthanarchy. Is she using “anarchy” pejoratively (as a synonym for chaos) or advocating actual anarchic principles in childbirth, which she would think is analogous to “birth freedom”? I assume it’s the latter, because the former would accurately describe the kind of births she advocates: chaos. In theory, even a stateless society advocates for accountability and adaquate recompense. So I know for DAMN sure she’s not advocating MW be held accountable for their poor outcomes.
(Sorry, it may seem trivial but it aggravates me when people misuse words and/or theories.)
Lastly, she’s despicable, really.
She is despicable. Remember that the state of California will not let her practice midwifery because she proved she has no respect for the laws. So what does Katie McCall do? Moves to New Hampshire and picks up again as a midwife.
I can’t believe that people will stand by them. Well, I can – because they’ve turned off their thinkers.
This is prima facie evidence why midwifery regulation CANNOT be left to the states, but requires Federal supervsion and legislation.
That’s pretty much never going to happen.
Never say “never”, Trixie! But I agree that unless Dr. Amy wins one of the giant lotteries and can finance a big lobby with lots of clout in DC [sorta like the NRA :-)], it’s highly unlikely.
Yeah, it’d just turn into a giant “state’s rights” issue. I agree with you in theory.
I wonder by how much the home birth death rates would be lowered if midwives ONLY took really and truly *LOW RISK* women. That means, no twins, no breech, no VBACs, no suspected macrosomia or other complications, and only full-term.
I think the death rate would still be higher than it is in hospitals. But I dare to guess it would be way lower than it is now.
I just can’t wrap my mind about this careless negligence of presiding over a home birth when it is KNOWN in advance the mother is already very high-risk (preemie twins).
I mean, tragedies can happen even if the mother is in perfect health and the pregnancy was 100% normal. But to knowingly, deliberately enter into such an excessively dangerous situation? I simply don’t get it.
I have suggested that IF midwives weren’t so bat-shit out of control, this blog wouldn’t exist.
I agree that the results wouldn’t be as good as a hospital, but the no-brainer nonsense that is going on now wouldn’t be happening.
Add:
– Standard prenatal tests, GD, blood pressure, at least one ultrasound
– Pre-register at a hospital within a reasonable distance
– Follow the WHO partographs strictly and transport promptly if prolonged labor occurs. (It’s what they were designed for, after all, identifying abnormal labor in a low-technology setting.)
I’d also like to see no first-time mothers. That’s actually a huge risk factor all by itself.
Given all that, you’d see results similar to the multip outcomes from the UK birthplace study, which were almost indistinguishable from UK hospital outcomes on a sample of about 10,000.
I would also add, third trimester consult with OB, just to make sure everything is on track and there is an actual medical record on file for her. And then regular checks with OBs after 40 weeks.
I would also add standard charting for midwives-no scribbled notes or worse, non existent notes in case of transfer.
but what fun would that be? No stuntbirth no fair! Freedom of Rights in Childbirth!
Maybe they take on riskier births for the challenge and sense of accomplishment when things go well? I remember the smile when the mfm said “I successfully delivered your smallest baby.”
Indeed he did! He watched over my pregnancy closely and adjusted my insulin weekly, I was admitted three times prior to my daughter’s birth and he knew when it was time to deliver for the safety of both my daughter and I. I am delighted to have a happy healthy 2 yo!
Challenge? Well, they should have their license taken away for negligence and malpractice, and if they continue taking on patients they should be slapped into jail. Why can’t this be done?
Of course, parents should be responsible too. Parents of twins have no business considering anything but a closely monitored hospital birth. And the web is full of stories such as, “no doctor would take me for a VBA3C, so I had my baby at home with a midwife”… well, perhaps there is a REASON why no doctor would take a VBA3C?? Perhaps your midwife was not so very wonderful, but simply irresponsible?
Hopefully, you won’t find out the hard way how irresponsible she was. But then, that might encourage you for a VBA4C… since stupid doctors STILL won’t take you even after you have PROVED that you can do it!
There is more to Katie’s past than just the sister in chains page. She was (is?) a huge supporter of the Henderson’s. Jeffrey Henderson and his wife Erica have a bunch of kids. It’s really too much crazy to relate in just one post. This is one article on them: http://articles.latimes.com/2005/may/06/local/me-rescued6 They ended up losing their parental rights to all of the children. There has been a lot of speculation about drugs, alcohol, severe neglect and child abuse, including Jeffrey Henderson circumcising their infant boy in a cabin with no running water himself. She supported them and advocated for them to get their kids back. I think she even lived with them. I don’t know if Katie is just naive, or as evil as the people she associates with. I’m leaning towards the latter.
She defends them so much because she was living with them at one point. I wonder if she was a midwife at one of their “unassisted births”?
I wonder. She sure has a knack for aligning herself with people who are batshit crazy.
Birth Freedom is freedom given to others in order for exploitation to continue. It has nothing to to do with the public’s or consumer’ freedom. It has to do with a movement”s freedom to harm without accountability. Because in order to hold the movement accountable means revenge on the public. And there is nothing about the threats of revenge that equates to freedom for the consumer.
Once again, my shameless promotion for all of you who would like to make a donation counter to all the donations for Vickie Sorenson. Donate to help buy an accessibility van for Abel Andrews, who was injured at birth by CPMs: http://www.gofundme.com/7p5y6s
btw, the gofundme for vickie reads like the roster of Sisters In Chains. Jessica Weed and Katie McCall have shown up. I wonder if Rowan Bailey will wander in?
Perhaps Alice In Chains will sing at a benefit concert? I doubt it, though. Are they even still together?
Not in their original form, as the original lead singer, Layne Stanley died in 2002 from a drug overdose (although they weren’t really doing anything b/c of Layne’s drug addictions and subsequent health issues), but I guess they did start recording/touring again in 2009. I didn’t realize that, and now I must go check out their new stuff. I do love me some Alice in Chains. Reminds me of my rebellious teenage years. 🙂
Sad Suffering
Mike Starr is dead too.
Abel’s family has only raised $5400 of $35k needed for his van. I signed up for a $10 monthly donation. He is a beautiful little guy.
Thank you Houston Mom, I donated (twice!) but I think a recurring small donation just might make me feel a little less powerless against all these baby-harming nutjobs. I have met this mom and she is devoting her every moment to giving her son a chance.
It’s utterly despicable how much they have raised for this horrid woman and no funds EVER raised for those children they injure. NONE!
No, that would be a noble act, to help a family that chose midwifery and ended up with a bad outcome.
I wish there were a “like” button for this. I wouldn’t be able to click it enough.