Oct 31

“I Will Be The One Who Decides How Well You Are Handling Your Labor.”

“I will be the one who decides how well you are handling your labor.” – OB to mother who stated she wanted to avoid an epidural.

74 people dislike these words.

There are 11 comments to this post.

Tee had this to say, Oct 31, 2011 @ 2:52 pm (Quote)

Run away! Run far, far away!

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Heather P had this to say, Oct 31, 2011 @ 2:55 pm (Quote)

Holy crap! I am so sick of this kind of attitude. Women do not give up their personhood when they get pregnant. If she doesn’t want an epidural, you don’t get to override her.

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Jessica had this to say, Oct 31, 2011 @ 3:52 pm (Quote)

Is the OB speaking to a 5-year-old?

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jaed had this to say, Oct 31, 2011 @ 3:59 pm (Quote)

Doctor, do you really think someone is going to stick a needle in your patient’s spine against her will and without her consent? Seriously?

At this point, I do not necessarily expect this type of OB to pay any heed to the ethical obligation not to force unwanted procedures on a patient, and we all know that the law isn’t likely to help here. But just from a practical point of view, what is this OB thinking? Is he or she really visualizing a team of nurses holding down a struggling patient while an anesthesiologist inserts a needle into her spine? Seriously?

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Sheva Reply:
October 31st, 2011 at 5:15 pm Sheva(Quote)

All this has happened before, and it will all happen again, but this time… (Peter Pan)

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Heidi had this to say, Oct 31, 2011 @ 4:13 pm (Quote)

Maybe the OB is trying to brainwash the mom that s/he knows all, so that the mom will consent when the OB declares it is time.

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Kat had this to say, Oct 31, 2011 @ 7:45 pm (Quote)

That’s nice but you still won’t be deciding which medical procedures I consent to.

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Maria had this to say, Oct 31, 2011 @ 7:56 pm (Quote)

I can’t stand this attitude. Belittle the woman and embarrass her for how she is acting. It took me years to shake that feeling of embarrassment & failure after my daughter’s birth. The doc laughed at me crying because I was in pain, strapped to the bed, unable to get into comfy positions thanks to the monitor. He told me that “natural” birthers call it “intense” not “pain.” He saw that birth plan & I know he wanted to cut me open right them & there. a-hole.

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Kristin had this to say, Oct 31, 2011 @ 8:52 pm (Quote)

No you won’t. Here’s your pink slip. I found someone better *goes to awesome care provider*.

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Sarah had this to say, Nov 1, 2011 @ 5:07 am (Quote)

So now mom is going to be afraid to admit pain for fear of unwanted procedures. Which, of course is only going to make it worse. Really hope OP told doc where to stick it.

Even when my doc knew I was no longer tolerating labor well, he never said a thing until *I* asked for the epidural. When I did, he was super-respectful about it. Don’t know why more docs can’t be that way.

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