>If only one could trust the public not to sue when they need an anaesthetic,
>aspirate and end up in a vegetative state - then one might go for normality!


Tony, you surely know that it is becoming increasingly unusual in the
UK for women to be 'forbidden' to drink to thirst in labour. Many
(most?) units these days are fine about it, though they may have
caveats in some situations.

And when was the last time you heard of anyone suing in the
circumstances you outline, in the UK at any rate?

>In spite of sneering comments about medicalisation [and I join in too] it
>has to be admitted that infant mortality has plummeted - so the medical
>fraternity must be getting something right.


Well....in individual cases, of course, medical advances have proved
life saving.

But you must also know that the big advances in public health, and
that includes maternity issues, and infant mortality, have very
little to do with medical progress.  Better health for mothers,
better hygiene, improved nutrition all round...all that sort of stuff
is far more important, and, yes, life saving, than the still valuable
contributions of the medical fraternity (sorority?) .

Heather Welford Neil
NCT bfc Newcastle upon Tyne UK

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