Do the benefits of midwife-assisted delivery outweigh the disadvantages - Research Paper Example

For this reason, childbirth has been considered as a serious health condition that needs clinical or medical intervention. Since the 20th century, the number of women who give birth from home has significantly declined. Although there are some parts in the U.S. that legally consider midwife-assisted delivery to have some benefits over the health condition of pregnant women during the child delivery, some states in the U.S. including Alabama, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, North Carolina, South Dakota, and Wyoming do not legally allow the practice of midwife-assisted delivery not unless the midwife has been certified as Nurse Midwife (Mana).

Approximately 50% to 80% of the childbirth today takes place within the hospital settings. (Wagner) Despite the fact that majority of childbirth is done within the clinical areas, the number of minor to life-threatening childbirth complications remains high not only in caesarean surgeries but also in normal spontaneous delivery. Aside from the fact that hospital births can cause a significant increase in the number of infant deaths, hospital births also contributes to the significant increase in the number of mothers who died due to maternal hemorrhage, shoulder dystocia, eclampsia, or infection.

For this study, whether or not the benefits of midwife-assisted delivery outweigh the disadvantages will be thoroughly discussed. Approximately 87.3% of child delivery that has occurred in the hospitals was personally attended by the midwives (Declercq). Between the years 1975 to 1988, the number of total births that was attended by the midwives has increased from 0.9% up to 3.4% respectively (Advance Report of Final Natality Statistics, 1988). Since the U.S. Department of Health has tried to minimize maternal and infant mortality rate, some states in the country prohibit lay midwives to assist in child delivery especially when assisting childbirth from home.

Since then, the