Wagner, Marsden. Born in the USA How a Broken Maternity System Must Be Fixed to Put Women and Children First. Berekely and Los Angeles, California: University of Berkely, 2006. 1-189. Print.
1. So far, the movie "Business of Being Born" has a good balance of factual evidence and personal experiences while the book has a clear thesis that is constantly proved by numerical and anecdotal evidence. It seems as if the movie is a reference of experience and information about the birthing process for women, and the book is greatly encouraging natural childbirth while demonizing those in the obstetrician field and their common practices. The movie, at one point, brought up the rates of medical interventions in the country and how they are connected to the high maternity rates in this country but the book repeatedly references these rates and also explains the reason behind why they are so high although all this information has been proven.Having practiced with many obstetricians , the author of the book has a lot of insight about their perspective and their true motives behind their actions. The movie offers a much more objective view where midwifery is encouraged, but not advised. The movie also did not go into as much depth about the decrease in midwifery in the United States and the reason behind it. Midwives and home-births are very vilified in this country and it is important to address why they are even though many other highly developed countries use their practices and have a lower maternal and infant mortality rates. Marsden Wagner explains how doctors use the power of their authority to "knock out the competition".
2. I believe that the biggest insight the author is trying to communicate in the second hundred pages of the book is that most obstetricians work in fear: fear of competition and losing their jobs to equally competent midwives, fear of being sued for litigation, fear of losing control and monopoly over the births in the U.S., and mostly of making a mistake and having to admit that they are wrong. I feel as if these obstetricians are fighting for a position that they do not necessarily want to handle. They go to extremes to vilify (through the law and inaccurate statistics from biased studies) midwifery and alternate birthing options yet they aren't willing to handle the pitfalls of their own mistakes.
2. I believe that the biggest insight the author is trying to communicate in the second hundred pages of the book is that most obstetricians work in fear: fear of competition and losing their jobs to equally competent midwives, fear of being sued for litigation, fear of losing control and monopoly over the births in the U.S., and mostly of making a mistake and having to admit that they are wrong. I feel as if these obstetricians are fighting for a position that they do not necessarily want to handle. They go to extremes to vilify (through the law and inaccurate statistics from biased studies) midwifery and alternate birthing options yet they aren't willing to handle the pitfalls of their own mistakes.
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