Media In The Delivery Room.. Allowed or Not?

18G

18G

Paramedic
Messages
1,368
Reaction score
12
Points
38
There is a heated issue present with one of the local hospitals in my area. On November 1, 2010, Meritus Hospital implemented a policy that bans parents from videoing or photographing their child's birth. Perhaps some on the forum have heard about the ban as it has gained National attention.

The hospital claims that the policy is out of safety and concern for the Mother and baby so there are no distractions. I completely disagree and call BS as it's clear that the policy came from risk management as a way to eliminate proof of any wrong doing.

As a parent I believe strongly in having the right to capture the process of birth and that moment as the child transitions to the outside world.

I posted this to get the feelings and opinions of those in the EMS community.

What are your thoughts on the banning of media in the delivery room?

http://www.herald-mail.com/news/hm-meritus-ban-cameras-delivery-01072011,0,4581878.story

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/03/us/03birth.html?_r=3&pagewanted=1&hp
 
I agree. Why not. I took pictures before and immediately after but not during. Our doctor let me assist in delivery so I was a bit busy:). Those parents that want to preserve the moment with photo or video will likely choose a different hospital to deliver at.

I personally know of a couple who have a special needs daughter who is the result of a doctor who pushed the envelope of "natural birth" beyond what the parents were comfortable with during the time of delivery. The baby became stressed and was lacking O2. A C-section was performed yielding a blue baby. I think there was a settlement but I am not sure.

What if something goes wrong with a surgery that is being observed by students or others? Is there a difference really? It will be interesting to see if this is a trend.
 
Idk about all that, but I want to delivery my kid.

.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I'd just go to a different hospital, it doesn't seem like a trend. The nice thing about doctors and health services is if you don't like one, yo just go to another.

There is always the possibility of having a home birth with a midwife.

This may come as a bit of a shock, but women have babies outside of the hospital all the time and always have.
 
PotashRLS said:
What if something goes wrong with a surgery that is being observed by students or others? Is there a difference really? It will be interesting to see if this is a trend.
Click to expand...

Sort of...

I don't think any attorney in their right mind would call a student as a witness. "So in your expert opinion as a student, what did the fully qualified surgeon or anesthesiologist do wrong?"

That seems like something that would get little credibility initially and would be destroyed in cross.

When I am scrubbed in and doing something (usually saphenous vein harvesting), it is taking absolutely my full attention, I don't notice time passing and the only thing I really look at is the vital sign monitor from time to time and the equipment I need.(particularly of interest to me is how many of the little vein clips I have left in the magazine, because it is never enough.) Being left handed, the clock is always behind me when I stand on the patient's left anyway. Asking me in court (or anywhere else) what the surgeons were actually doing in the chest would be absolutely useless, I can't see in there until almost the end, and while I know what they were supposed to be doing, I didn't witness if or how.
 
Veneficus said:
Sort of...

I don't think any attorney in their right mind would call a student as a witness. "So in your expert opinion as a student, what did the fully qualified surgeon or anesthesiologist do wrong?"

That seems like something that would get little credibility initially and would be destroyed in cross.

When I am scrubbed in and doing something (usually saphenous vein harvesting), it is taking absolutely my full attention, I don't notice time passing and the only thing I really look at is the vital sign monitor from time to time and the equipment I need.(particularly of interest to me is how many of the little vein clips I have left in the magazine, because it is never enough.) Being left handed, the clock is always behind me when I stand on the patient's left anyway. Asking me in court (or anywhere else) what the surgeons were actually doing in the chest would be absolutely useless, I can't see in there until almost the end, and while I know what they were supposed to be doing, I didn't witness if or how.
Click to expand...

Makes sense, but in the case of child birth, or at least during the delivery of my 2 kids, all medical staff in the room were tuned in directly with Mom, Baby and Doctor. They were all witnessing what was going on as described in the original post. It sounds like in your case, individuals are tuned in to what they specifically are doing first, overall situation second.

As far as people viewing certain procedures, I also doubt any attorney will consider the viewers to be expert witnesses. I am sure the attorney will direct interviews/questions in a manner that uses testimony to corroborate or refute specifics that are appropriate to the witness. Heck, video can and does miss things too so there is no guarantee it is always a liability.
 
I feel like the majority of the policies & procedures in L&D wards are for the benefit of the staff, not the "safety of mother & baby." This is just another manifestation of that.
 
Their rational seems like a scapegoat, but the hospital choice of where to have your baby delivered IS one that is voluntary.

FWIW much of the current research done with deliveries seems to be very favorable to the home birth w/ midwife route anyway.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
PotashRLS said:
Makes sense, but in the case of child birth, or at least during the delivery of my 2 kids, all medical staff in the room were tuned in directly with Mom, Baby and Doctor. They were all witnessing what was going on as described in the original post. It sounds like in your case, individuals are tuned in to what they specifically are doing first, overall situation second.

As far as people viewing certain procedures, I also doubt any attorney will consider the viewers to be expert witnesses. I am sure the attorney will direct interviews/questions in a manner that uses testimony to corroborate or refute specifics that are appropriate to the witness. Heck, video can and does miss things too so there is no guarantee it is always a liability.
Click to expand...

In the delivery room, there are typically: the nurse assigned to the laboring mom, the physician present for the delivery, and the "baby nurse" who spends the last few minutes waiting for the baby checking the baby equipment again.

If the baby needs any kind of resuscitation, the baby nurse(s) and the doctor (or NICU staff) would be paying close attention to the baby, and would never notice what a staff member was doing with mom.

I agree with the post who said that this just joins the other list of things that are for the safety and comfort of the staff, without a thought for the comfort (or wishes) of the birthing family.

One more reason to homebirth.

If this catches on, I could see it spreading to all or most hospitals, like the "no delivering in the water" rules, or "pt must remain NPO during labor."
 
I thought that not allowing video/photography in the delivery room was the norm these days due to liability concerns.

I can't say that I agree with the policy, but I can understand the concern, and understand that most expectant mothers have a choice of hospitals.
 
First and foremost, Mom, Dad, and Baby need to come first. Some may perceive the capturing of video or photos as trivial but the value is priceless and the sentiment that these images will yield in years to come, especially after the child reaches adulthood, is sacred to the parents and child.

I have been following the media coverage and have conversed briefly online with the two women that have initiated the campaign to have the policy removed. The hospital publicly made the claim that they were looking out for the welfare of Mom and Baby which is clearly not the case when looking at birth statistics and there being no record where any Father or other family member taking pictures has ever resulted in a medical mistake or issue with a delivery. No single incident prompted this policy. It was created as a means to remove any sort of photographic or video evidence of medical mistakes. And the thing that is most irritating to me is that they lied to the Community to make it look like they are looking out for them when they are only looking out for themselves.

The reality is that 90% of delivery's are completely normal. Almost 10% require minor care such as blow-by O2 or assisted ventilations for a few seconds while the baby transitions from fetal to extrauterine circulation. ONLY 0.12% of births require invasive resuscitation involving intubation, medications, IV/IO, etc.

It's not as easy as saying "go to a different hospital" or "deliver at home". What if someone had prior kids and wanted to keep the same OB Dr and deliver at the same hospital as previous? Why should parents have to undergo the inconvenience of choosing a new OB and new hospital with which they are not familiar and which is probably in another town some distance away?

If it were me I would take pictures and video anyway. What recourse does the hospital really have? Have the Father removed? Arrested? It's certainly not illegal to take pictures of your own flesh and blood. And who is paying the bill, me.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
HotelCo said:
Idk about all that, but I want to delivery my kid.

.
Click to expand...

Same here.

Well.....actually, as my mother always told me, doctors, fathers, etc only "catch" babies. Mothers actually deliver them.

:-P
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I'm of a mixed mind, although I do believe this policy is more common than people realize. One of the problems with allowing media in the delivery room is that the parents can sue up until the patient is 17 years 364 days old. One of the MDs I worked with had a horror story from a colleague who had been sued for something there was no way in heck could be proven to be from the delivery, but it still cost the doc a ton of money.

At 14 little Johnny is diagnosed with dyslexia and the generic "learning disability", parents have a tape of the birth that shows the MD holding Johnny 2 inches above level while cutting the cord. Suddenly the MD is being sued for causing Johnny's problems because he must have been deprived of oxygen during delivery because of those 2 inches.

Yeah, I don't blame the MDs and hospitals.
 
So basically its because like everything else, America is afraid of getting sued.
 
MrBrown said:
So basically its because like everything else, America is afraid of getting sued.
Click to expand...

Well, kind of. Yes America is afraid of getting sued, but it is because not only do stupid people sue about stupid stuff, but stupid judges rule in favor of stupid people, leaving the honest man to fend for himself.

As usual, the bad seems to prevail. Why the h:censored::censored::censored: is that? :glare:
 
MrBrown said:
Why do you think Brown wants a .380 auto? :D
Click to expand...


lightsandsirens5 said:
.380???? Blahhhhhhhh........ Get a .40S&W. And don't listen to jt's S&W comments. Or his rants about 10mm Auto. Ok mate?
Click to expand...

Thats funny!!:)

I'm a .45acp guy myself. Besides, didn't Australia and New Zealand strip gun ownership rights?

Anyway, no doubt sue happy America is certainly the reason behind this policy.
 
It reminds me of how a few of my classmates freaked out and swore they'd be too scared to grab a wall-mounted AED because some of them have voice recorders. Legal concerns aside, some people get really nervous when they're on camera.

Some people also get really aggressive about filming everything when you put a camera in their hands, and I could see that becoming an issue as well.

That being said, I think the family should be allowed to do what they want in the delivery room. If hospitals are really nervous about future uses of the footage, perhaps they could have them sign a waiver... then again, though, they might be better protected by focusing on getting their personnel comfortable around cameras, and making sure they're not very likely to screw up.

MrBrown said:
So basically its because like everything else, America is afraid of getting sued.
Click to expand...

Yep.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top