Jennifer Tieman wrote:
  This is an issue that drives
> me just nuts.  I see again and again women agreeing (or at least not
> protesting) to the most amazing things!  I spend the majority of my
prenatal
> care trying to educate my patients and train them to make their own
choices.
>  I suggest books for them to read (and keep copies in my OB exam room), I
> tell them every visit to come to their next with a list of questions, I
push
> them to take every prenatal class they can get their hands one, and yet
even
> with all of that the grand majority of my patients never question me.
> Sometimes I feel like I could suggest they paint the baby purple and at
> least some parents would comply!

I have a good friend, Dr. Joyce Barrett, a now-retired family physician who
specialized in pregnancy and birth, who felt exactly the same way! We have
had many, many conversations on this topic. (She and I wrote a book together
intended to help women make their own choices - it's called Pregnancy and
Birth: The Best Evidence - published in Canada and not readily available in
the U.S.) And she experienced the same frustrations you describe - women
wanting to hand over all decision-making to her.

Joyce even made a little sign for her office that said "Remember, I could be
wrong." I thought it was great, but she said it didn't help all that much.

Jennifer, you sound like a wonderful doctor and I know you are making a
difference, even if it's one mother and one baby at a time. Don't give up!
We need you!

Teresa Pitman
Guelph, Ontario

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