Dear Friends and Supporters of Midwifery,
Thank you all for the outpouring of love and support for Diane! We are now only 11 days away from Diane's hearing with the Pennsylvania State Board of Medicine in Harrisburg. I was privileged to spend some time with Diane on Saturday. I was able to look over her various documents and get answers to many of the questions you have asked.
On the 26th, Diane faces 4 separate charges in a hearing with the Pennsylvania State Board of Medicine. She is charged with practicing medicine without a license, practicing Nurse-Midwifery
without a license, holding herself out the public as being authorized to practice medicine and holding herself out the public as being authorize to practice Nurse-Midwifery. She faces possible fines of $10,000 per count. (Yes, that is ten thousand dollars, not one thousand! Trust me - I read the charging documents myself. The civil penalties have increased tenfold since the Yoders case.) Also, the board is likely to issue a statement or opinion regarding an interpretation of the law, that, if left unchallenged by appeal, will likely set a precedent for future cases. I probably don't need to tell you that that opinion will probably not be favorable to the free practice of midwife-attended home birth!
This isn't going to stop with Diane. Not if they win, and not if we can't get some legislation passed. There are plenty of other midwives they can go after and I'm sure they know that. Diane's lawyer believes that this could go to the PA Supreme Court. Costs there begin at $100,000. Yes, we are talking big money here, any way you look at it!
As Diane sees it, this is a political battle that will ultimately need to be resolved with legislation. And I believe that we can help in that area! An overwhelming show of public support for Diane and homebirth and midwifery care on the 26th may or may not have any impact on the outcome of the hearing, but it will get the attention of the legislators in Harrisburg! Particularly, I am hopeful that we can stir up public interest in this issue by getting the attention of the print media and TV.
This is our opportunity to get before the public and show them happy, healthy, home birthed children. It is our chance to show them that we are intelligent, capable, responsible people who make positive contributions to our communities and have made our birth choices accordingly. I am hoping that scores of us will gather inside and outside the hearing!
The Amish of Lancaster County have chartered two buses to go to Harrisburg on the 26th and are charging only $7 per person to go. Continue to spread the word and get as many homebirth supporters to Harrisburg on the 26th of January as you can! I will follow up on Tuesday with the exact address. (Diane is not sure of that herself, right now. If you haven't heard from me by Wednesday, January 17, please e-mail me. I don't want to make the mistake of leaving anyone out who wants to come!)
Now for some stats. Diane has been practicing midwifery in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, for over 25 years. She has assisted in the births of over 5,000 babies and has trained many young women in midwifery. She is a Certified Professional Midwife with the North American Registry of Midwives, an organization which provides oversight, continuing education, and high standards of professionalism in midwifery. www.narm.org Diane's practice is largely, though not exclusively, among Amish and Mennonite women. She is well known and highly regarded by the families whom she serves and by their church leadership. In 2000 she participated in the largest study to date of the outcomes of planned home births with CPMs in North America. The study was published in the British Medical Journal in 2005. The abstract states that, "Planned home birth for low risk women in North America using certified professional midwives was associated with lower rates of medical intervention but similar intrapartum and neonatal mortality to that of low risk hospital births in the United States."
Read Article Here
Although Diane is a CPM, she recognizes the need for and respects the skill of midwives who, for whatever reasons, choose not to seek certification. From personal experience, I can tell you that she is humble, warm, highly knowledgeable, and thoroughly professional.
I hope you can be in Harrisburg on the 26th, and bring as many supporters of midwifery as you can! As I mentioned before, Diane is paying her own legal fees, and has already incurred significant legal costs. If you or anyone you know would like to help her with this, I am including her address below. Thanks for your support!
Diane Goslin
New BABI
931 Old Road
Strasburg, Pennsylvania 17579
Sincerely,
Jody Ward
sevenwards@juno.com
2 comments:
I forget if you just moved to Pittsburgh or not - do you know about Judy Wilson?
We moved here in July 2005 and yes, I knew about Judy before we moved here.
Logic, you'd think, would tell an 'official' that if so many people want this kind of care, risk things to get it, spend their last dimes insuring that they get it, it's written about and prestigiously published as safe or safer than other options and their midwives risk jail to offer it, then maybe, just maybe we (the 'officials') should let them have it and let well enough alone.
No, but what will happen is legislation that will prevent persons like myself from legally offering guidance, support and counseling, because I do not want any certifications for various reasons.
And if I wanted to fulfill 'their' requirements, it means that I'd probably have to do and say things, in regards to my clients and practice, that I am diametrically, logically and spiritually opposed to doing and saying, because of the risk factors, invasion of privacy and the medical meddling that those requirements are riddled with.
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