I have been reading this thread with interest.  I also have refused some
procedures after the births of my three daughters.  However when I was in
nursing school, I saw parents who tried to refuse and were threatened with
Child Protective Services.  One incident stands out in my mind.  The family
was Mennonite and had a homebirth with a lay midwife.  The baby developed
some complications and was brought to NICU.  The mother pumped and brought in
her milk.  After a few days, the baby was doing quite well and the father was
pressing to take him home.  I overheard the two neonatologists talking about
this case.  They said they would absolutely NOT sign release papers for the
baby.  Why?  Because they felt these people were ignorant, uneducated, etc.
for having a homebirth (and also vocalized disapproval for the fact that they
had a large family).  The doctors wanted to punish the father who was
"butting heads" with them.  They came to the conclusion to "hold" the baby
for 2-3 more days to make sure "the father understood who was in charge in
the hospital".  They discussed the protocol for calling Child Protective
Services should the father try to take the baby (which apparently he had
threatened to do if the doctors couldn't come up with a good reason to keep
his baby).  The doctors also laughed about the high cost of NICU for this
family (who don't have insurance) and commented that next time maybe they'll
think twice about having a homebirth.
    I saw this kind of thing happen several times during my rotation in the
hospital.  I agree with the person who commented that as people of color,
different religions, lower class will have more problems refusing procedures.
 These are the exact groups I have seen targeted by the hospital staff.  I
don't have a good solution for this problem, but I think we need to be aware
that this problem definitely exists.

Back to lurking,
Barb Cavanaugh RN, BSN, volunteer

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