Midwifery bill is potentially bad

To the editor:

I am writing in response to Dr. Elizabeth Allmenn's support of House Bill 36 regarding midwifery. This is a bad bill for Missouri and potentially a bad bill for women.

H.B. 36 would make the practice of midwifery not the practice of medicine and would allow anyone with an interest in delivering babies the ability to do so without supervision and with unknown qualifications.

As a board-certified obstetrician-gynecologist, I had to undergo rigorous training. During this period I participated in an untold number of deliveries and was trained to do surgeries involving the female reproductive tract. Thank the Lord my trainers were there to help me, as the specialty of obstetrics and gynecology is extremely complex. I did all this to deliver infants and to preserve the health of the mother.

Dr. Allmenn says that she has worked with midwives. I also, during my residency, had the unfortunate experience of seeing firsthand some disasters that lay midwives had during some deliveries. I have also seen the wonderful work that certified nurse-midwives do.

Delivering babies should only be done by people with the training, experience and the resources available to ensure that a child is brought into this world under the circumstances that give the infant the best chance possible. In this bill there is no clause to ensure training and only a weak clause stating that the midwife is responsible to disclose her training and experience.

Dr. ERIC MORTON, President, Cape Girardeau County Medical Society, Cape Girardeau