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Teamwork for peace of mind (Herald Sun, letter to the editor)
17 September 2008
Midwives and doctors work together to provide the best care for the patient.
Women who choose to give birth in a hospital have the peace of mind knowing they have full access to available resources - including treatment by a doctor - should an emergency arise.
With childbirth it is impossible to predict emergency medical intervention – and this is one of the problems with a "midwife only" model.
The rate of death during childbirth in Australia is 8.4 women in every 100,000 births. In the rest of the First World this rate is 20 deaths per 100,000 and in the Third World it rises to 440 deaths per 100,000.
There is a reason Australia has such a high survival rate in childbirth: we have highly skilled midwives working with highly skilled doctors with rapid medical intervention at hand when crises occur.
Hospital births in no way "serve the needs of practitioners" ("Ryan McDonald: welcome to the world", September 13).
They serve only the interests of the patient, the baby and their health.
Dr Doug Travis is president, AMA Victoria
Victorian Medical Directory
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