As a Healthcare Consumer

I was glad to find this post today.  Sherry Payne is a self-ascribed homebirth enthusiast, and I think it’s wonderful that she brings this enthusiasm to her blog, her other writing, and to her profession.  She is a labor & delivery nurse!!!  Her article is entitled “Consumer First, Patient Second.”  Here is an excerpt:

“Receivers of health care must adopt a more pro-active consumer role in their own healthcare delivery. Nowhere is this more obvious in healthcare than in obstetrics where as a labor and delivery nurse, I have seen care providers of all types routinely bully, control, and dominate their patients. Your care provider should be a competent guide through the process. He or she is not your daddy.”

This is certainly my goal as an ICAN leader and as a woman who now “knows better” than to let another person take charge of her body – to empower women and their families to take on a more involved role and equal position in their health care.  I don’t think there’s a harder “place” to do this than obstetrics, unfortunately.  However, if one woman in my community learns something from me in this regard, I will be thankful.