Posted on 04/04/2005 11:47:49 AM PDT by Crackingham
Dr. John C. Nelson, an obstetrician, understands the desire of some parents to capture the miracle of birth on video. But a few years ago, he put a stop to the practice among his patients for fear the delivery-room footage could someday become Exhibit A in court. "What once used to be really fun and warm and cozy and so forth is now a potential nail in the coffin from a liability perspective," said Nelson, who practices in Salt Lake City and delivered babies until 2003. He is now president of the American Medical Association.
Many doctors and hospitals around the country are clamping down on videotaping in the delivery room out of concern those family videos could be used in malpractice suits.
Nelson acted three or four years ago after the medical center where he practiced urged limits. He said he does not allow families to videotape the birth itself, but they are free to record other events, such as the mother's first moments with her child.
The doctor conceded that it can be difficult to tell excited, expectant parents that they will not be able to capture baby's first wail, or Mom's hard work, on video. But he said, "The doctor wants to be concerned about the clinical issue in front of him, and not have to worry about how it's going to play on TV."
Others argue that that is exactly how doctors should be thinking when they deliver a baby or perform other medical procedures.
"If doctors were concerned about liability and frivolous lawsuits, they should welcome videotapes," said David Beninger, a lawyer in Seattle. "A videotape proves what happens and when it happens. There's no more reliance on faded memories."
Beninger said most people want to record a child's birth for the memories, not the evidence, but those tapes can also come in handy if something goes wrong.
He relied on a personal videotape in a case involving a boy who was born in 1999 and died last May of pneumonia. He argued that medical records inaccurately portrayed the baby as healthy throughout the birth while the videotape showed dire complications.
The family eventually reached a $2 million settlement with Cascade Midwives and Birth Center in Everett. The medical center declined to comment.
The AMA has no guidelines on personal videotaping of deliveries. Alicia Mitchell, a spokeswoman for the American Hospital Association, said some hospitals have come up with policies, but many simply urge the patient to work it out with the doctor.
"Certainly the tendency is to move toward less and less ability to videotape," said Larry Veltman, chairman of the professional liability committee for the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.
Video of the conception can sometimes end up in court as well......
--that's how it should be, not the group photophest it has apparently become--
I agree that the delivery room shouldn't be a party of family and friends, but you're saying that the husband and father should be removed as well?
--yes--
Make arrangements beforehand and only go to the doctor or hospital which agrees to allow it.
Well, Dad was there for the beginning. Do you think after that, his part was done?
As if anyone ever sits down with a bowl of popcorn to watch the birth video anyway.
I'm glad my husband was there all three times (back in the olden days) but I'm also thrilled that no one videotaped it. To heck with how it might make the doctor look, I didn't look so good myself!
susie
I agree.
And this whole video-taping of the birth trend is creepy. 15 years hence, what kid really wants to see himself popping our of his mother's vagina?
When I have kids, I want it the way God intended; me in the waiting room and my wife loopy on drugs.
Thanks doc. I for one do not want to grow up seeing my mother's bloody expanded vagina and other private parts at every family video showing for all eternity.
Exactly! My husband was there all six times and was wonderful. But I can't imagine photographing the event. You look about your worst, and the baby is usually pretty scruffy, wet and, as my daughter says, "squish-faced." I've got albums and albums of photos AFTER the birth.
Just because you may be a big chicken about watching the birth of your child, they should not deny those who want to.
--my point, more precisely put--
"Natural Childbirth? Natural smatural."
"Put me to sleep. Knock me out. Wake me when the hairdresser comes."
Great. You get the Robert E. Rayford award of the day.
Wow! If my husband had not been in the room when I was giving birth I am sure I would have panicked. He always says he doesn't do anything, but having him rub my back or my hair, and just being there helps a lot. Last time my midwife said she thought it was so sweet the way my husband would whisper in my ear. She didn't realize he was making comments to make me laugh.
I have never allowed video taping at my deliveries. If I make the assertion that I did NOT scream like a banshee, I want there to be no evidence to dispute my claim. :)
However, I am disappointed that they no longer allow the ultrasound images to be recorded.
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