That’s the headline of a new study I chanced upon today.** My gut reaction: Excuse me, but I thought the most important goal was the safety of mother and child!
This is not a screed against epidurals. I had a planned epidural with both of my babies. The article appears to be touting the benefits of an epidural plus nitrous oxide. (Hey, it’s a British study. For decades, the Brits have gone in for laughing gas in labos. For why it’s not caught on here, see OBOG) I’ve got no fundamental problem with representing epidurals’ advantages, as long as women aren’t being buffaloed into interventions they don’t want.
What I find profoundly odd is how the title of the study harnesses the values and language of the natural childbirth movement while actually arguing for a highly technocratic approach to pain. I realize hospitals have been co-opting “natural” approaches since they started introducing homey birthing suites in the 1980s. However, this article strikes me as at least a local high point in the co-optation process.
Patient satisfaction actually strikes me as only a tertiary goal – albeit one that’s important for a hospital’s bottom line, as well as a woman’s well-being. Along with assuring safety, birth attendants should honor the agency and personhood of the laboring woman. That doesn’t mean every birth plan will be followed, for instance; labor isn’t that predictable. It does mean treating women as subjects, not as objects. It means taking their needs and wishes seriously. It means not infantilizing them. If birth attendants accord women this basic respect, “satisfaction” should follow.
**I haven’t read the whole thing because the article’s not yet available through my libaray. But this is one case where the title and abstract suffice, since I’m concerned with rhetoric, not science.
Patron cat of Kittywampus (1985-2001)
