It's been a while.

So, yeah. Apologies for the lack of Mother and Baby conclusion. Although, truth be told it wasn't that interesting. I spent some time on the midwife-led delivery unit, and saw absolutely nothing, alas. A couple of baby examinations, that's about it. Not much that eluded to education and experience, but that's the way it goes, sometimes.

Dr. Crippen has been chronicling re: midwives/"madwives" recently, and it's certainly an interesting debate. Especially the comments.

I'd say the education of student nurses is quite biased towards midwives, in my experience. We share a council, obviously, which might effect things. But generally I don't mind them. They do a difficult job under often difficult conditions. Dr. Crippen has a big ying against Independent Midwives, with some good reasons, but it's not all that clear cut. It's not baddies VS. goodies or anything so simplistic.

The thing which I dislike is the view of the - ahem - feminists over at TheFWord. To state, quite simply, "we decide what is anti-feminist" is hilarious. Their arguments on 'medical rape' are also quite amusing. I seldom agree full on with Dr. Crippen, but his point rings true: Their arguments rely on eliciting emotion, overriding logic and good sense. They speak as if the waters are always clear in modern medicine and midwifery, and like decisions are typically easy to make. I am in no way condoning patriarchal, paternalistic, top-down care or anyone. That's bollocks. What isn't bollocks are the 4 pillars of ethical practice. 'Feminists' over at the F-word state that people in the medical and nursing professions aren't God, which is certainly correct. However, as any fule knows, sometimes judgement calls have to be made. Beneficence can overrule the three remaining principles. Worse still, in the case of pregnancy there are two lives to consider. Doctors, midwives and nurses have to make calls on these issues, often in split seconds, and I believe such decisions are a million miles away from the coffee table debates that concern these 'feminists'.