Posted by My OB said WHAT?!?.
Mar
30
Posted by My OB said WHAT?!?.
“This Is A Hospital. We Move Things Along Here. If You Don’t Like It, You Can Go Home.”
“This is a hospital. We move things along here. If you don’t like it, you can go home.” – OB to mother in labor, when the mother did not consent to having her membranes ruptured.
There are 32 comments to this post.
This is a hospital, not a factory. I demand better care than a product on a production line!
Furthermore, you should be reassigned to care for cancer patients, because the first time you tell one to hurry up and die, you’ll be fired, as you should be.
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Kathryn Reply:
March 30th, 2012 at 1:03 pm (Quote)
LIKE, no LOVE the analogy.
The hospital I went to (big mistake) with my first could definitely be described as a birth factory. It was awful. I definitely allowed myself to fall victim of the system and one-size-fits-all birth “care.”
My second was born at a birth center, and the only reason I didn’t stay home is because homebirth midwives are illegal in my state, and I didn’t feel comfortable with the prospect of facing possible legal trouble if I hired one anyway.
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Well first we have to discuss the pro and cons and since I know that rupturing of membranes only speeds things up an average of 20 minutes and introduces more opportunities for infection I DO NOT CONSENT. Now if you don’t like it you can get the out and send in the head of nursing and the head of obsterics to talk about a qualified doctor to “sit watch” with me – yes I mean sit on his or her ass just exactly like a lifeguard at the beach! And then we can talk about your continued privelages at this hospital and I will be calling your malpractise insurance company! OUT OUT OUT! (No, I wouldn’t really say half of that at the time, but I would fire him or her and I would be complaining later.)
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Honestly, I kind of appreciate the complete honesty here. On a sad, pathetic level, it’s rather refreshing to just have a doc lay it out rather than pretend s/he’s got your best interest at heart when that is not the case at all.
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I’m gone. Thank you! Oh, and by the way, you’re gone, too. I won’t be using you anymore. If I return to a hospital for this birth, it won’t be this one. And after I leave, you should read up on the research AND the concept of informed consent.
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The Deranged Housewife had this to say,
Mar 30, 2012 @ 1:07 pm (Quote)
I wish they’d say that to everyone. 
You’d be better off most of the time!
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Kate @ Modern Alternative Mama had this to say,
Mar 30, 2012 @ 1:41 pm (Quote)
This was mine. At the time I did not feel lucky…I felt bullied! I had neglected to take a birthing class and the doctor refused to talk to my husband or the nursing staff. She was on the phone…not even in the building. I was having contractions every two minutes and barely handling labor. I was sure I couldn’t do it if she broke my water. I also didn’t know, at the time, that I should have threatened to get up and leave and they probably would have backed down rather than risk a lawsuit. So ultimately I got a epi and had my water broken…it didn’t change anything (which led to pitocin) and well, I had a healthy baby, but I can’t say anything else positive about the experience.
For my second and third births, I took her advice: I went home. 
And had lovely, wonderful home births with both my boys!
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Melissa Reply:
March 30th, 2012 at 5:36 pm (Quote)
I don’t think many (any?) of us would have felt lucky at the time, either…and especially not for a first baby! OBs use lines like this because they “work”–they manipulate women in this type of situation into whatever it is that the doctor’s pushing to make THEIR lives easier.
I’m sorry this piece of work was even allowed near you. What a jerk. Glad the next two births were so much better, though.
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Move along move along, now DON’T PUSH! Hurry up, slow down, roll over, be a good girl. They act like they are paying us or something, instead of the other way around.
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With my daughter I was scared & easily manipulated into making bad choices that caused lots of problems for me & her after birth. If I had another I’d know better now. I’d not put up with something like this! I’d tell them they are paid to care for their patient, not violate their right of choice & then threaten to discontinue care! And I’d tell them they had better make sure things go as I consent to, and we’d better be cared for thoroughly or I’d be quoting that comment at his malpractice suit!
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Well, my first thought is “Hey, great idea! Yup, I’ll go home. Thanks, see ya later!”
But I know that home birth isn’t possible for every woman. Some woman have risks that take the possibility away from them and some woman simply aren’t comfortable giving birth at home. So for those women, this kind of story saddens me beyond belief.
And if I’ve said it once, I’ve said it 100 times. Labor and birth are NOT a one size fits all scenario!
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All snark aside, legally a US hospital cannot turn away a woman in labor. Correct? Therefore the hospital would be very much unlikely to be able to discharge a woman for refusing consent to AROM, and if they did do so, I imagine there would be legal fallout for them.
Does anyone know what the actual legal situation is for a US hospital? How about hospitals in other countries?
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Aunt4God Reply:
March 30th, 2012 at 4:12 pm (Quote)
I ran across this article a couple days ago….while they don’t turn away the woman while she’s in labor, they do kick her out when she tries to refuse something for her daughter. 
http://www.hslda.org/hs/state/pa/201203270.asp
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Cara Reply:
March 30th, 2012 at 8:04 pm (Quote)
Yes and no. A hospital *that receives federal funds, like Medicaid payments, can not refuse to treat a woman in labor under the provisions of EMTALA. In this case they are insinuating that if you don’t accept their treatment recommendations, you might as well go home AMA (Against Medical Advice). In that case there would be no EMTALA violation. Which, of course, is also untrue — you are allowed to refuse *any* treatment you don’t want.
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Lisa in Texas had this to say,
Mar 31, 2012 @ 5:14 pm (Quote)
I actually have a friend who did walk out AMA from labor and delivery. She knew that she was in labor but wouldn’t consent to all their ridiculous protocol. Then the doctor tried to tell her she wasn’t in labor because she was too calm thanks to hypnobirthing. She left, with her doula, and called her midwife from a previous homebirth on the way. The midwife almost made it to the house — dad actually caught the baby. She had prayed quite a bit about where to birth and felt called to plan a hospital birth. She never knew why. Apparently, it was so that she could file a complaint against this doctor (not her regular doc — the on-call doc from her OB practice). So you CAN go home.
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Ok I will
Cos I’m sure they’d actually let me walk out.
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