Private Midwifery in Sydney Rotating Header Image

August 24th, 2009:

Homebirths hit by insurance law

Aug 24th, 2009
by Melissa Maimann.
1 comment

For further information, contact Melissa Maimann at Essential Birth Consulting.

Link

NORTH COAST midwives who attend homebirths could soon be out of a job after a Senate committee yesterday recommended all homebirth midwives be insured.

Midwives warn this would shut them down because no insurance company in Australia will cover homebirths.

… Ms Juszczak said women intent on having their babies at home would no longer be able to access a registered midwife and would instead have to rely on unqualified help or ‘go it alone’.

“I believe that in most circumstances homebirth is safe, but there are circumstances where intervention is necessary and someone who is not skilled may not pick up on those instances,” Ms Juszczak said.

“So potentially, in those few cases, it will be more dangerous for those women and those babies.”

… “But even if the midwife can’t gain insurance, she is still registered … so you know that the woman has a particular level of expertise and experience,” she said. “The impact of this is that women will no longer be able to access a registered midwife for a homebirth, so basically it opens up the door to unsafe practice for women in homebirths.”

Melissa Maimann, Essential Birth Consulting 0400 418 448

Please Don’t Hurt Mothers-to-Be: Doctors Plead With Government.

Aug 24th, 2009
by Melissa Maimann.
No comments yet

For further information, contact Melissa Maimann at Essential Birth Consulting.

Link

Australian families who seek specialist obstetric care during pregnancy will up to $1,830 worse off if the Australian Government does not reconsider its proposed cuts to Medicare payments before the Senate this week.

It doesn’t seem to concern NASOG that Australian families are up to $5,000 “worse off” for seeking private midwifery care. Private midwifery has never been afforded medicare benefits, despite much research that supports the role of the midwife for most women.

… Dr Hilary Joyce, President of the National Association of Specialist Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (NASOG), warned that under the Bill going before the Senate this week, all patients embarking on having a family will be worse off when they go to see their specialist obstetrician.

“All couples who undertake fertility treatments and then who need special obstetric care throughout their pregnancy will be hit harder still with the double financial whammy of fertility treatment and maternity treatment cuts to Medicare,”

I’m not clear why Hilary believes that women who have fallen pregnant through ART require ongoing obstetric care. She has made a statement without backing it up by research. I’d like to read the research that states that this is so. While pregnancies that have been achieved through ART may have risks associated with them, that is also true of every pregnancy. No pregnancy is risk-free. There’s no reason not to have midwifery care pre-emtively. If complications are detected or even suspected, the midwife will make a referral to a hospital or obstetrician, and the woman will receive appropriate care.

“We are concerned about the families who won’t be able to afford the choice of their own obstetrician because of these proposed Medicare cuts. … Will they be forced into the already overwhelmed public hospital system? …

The proposed changes prevent women from accessing the midwife of their choice. Hilary does not seem to be concerned by this. These women will also be forced into the overwhelmed public system.

Melissa Maimann, Essential Birth Consulting 0400 418 448