From: cookc@aix.rpi.edu (rocker)
Subject: Re: I had an abortion two days ago
Date: Mon, 5 Oct 1992 04:31:35 GMT

nyikos@math.scarolina.edu (Peter Nyikos) writes:

>In <fpjz-2h@rpi.edu> cookc@aix.rpi.edu (rocker) writes:

>>Why have we not seen similar concern from you about the agony of
>>childbirth?  Myself, I am angry at birth mills for not offering
>>anesthesia as a matter of course.  In fact, the refusal of the
>>medical staff to provide painkillers has created needless misery
>>in the birth experiences of many women.  Does _this_ sort of thing
>>horrify you, or are you only horrified when an abortion is involved?

>It would horrify me if I saw evidence this actually existed.

Have you ever looked into it?  

>Kindly give examples of medical staff refusing to give painkillers
>in the present-day USA.

I was refused an epidural for over 1.5 days.  First in a birthing
center, then in a hospital.  

I never did receive an epidural.  When I remember the "birth
experience", all I remember is exhaustion, misery, being ignored
by the staff of the baby mill, but most of all, soul-searing pain.

>But as you can see from an earlier follow-up of mine along this
>thread, a WIDE range of anesthetics is offered in birthing, at
>least in the hospitals I am familiar with.

Which hospitals are these?  And you do, of course, realize the
difference between "available" and "offered".

>>Oh, and btw, with regards to your continuing snotty remarks to
>>Adrienne, I know SEVERAL women who begged doctors to stop during
>>childbirth.  I know women who were reduced to begging for C-sections,
>>because they knew that was the ONLY WAY IN HELL (and I do mean hell)
>>that they were going to get any painkiller.  Women who are breast-
>>feeding are often refused pain medication AFTER the birth as well.

>>But we don't see you talking about how terrible THAT situation is.

>Because I never heard of it before.  And so far, I only have your
>word for it that this has happened.  Which hospital(s) did this take
>place in?  

Jackson Memorial Hospital, Miami, Florida.  They are affiliated with
the University of Miami medical school.  The birthing center has since
closed.

The reason I refer to it as a "birth mill" is that we were once told
during a hospital tour (the same tour in which we heard a "code
blue" called in the obstetric ICU - a code blue means the mother
has gone into cardiac arrest) that the obstetric ward delivered
over 11,000 babies a year.  

>What was the reason for this strange split between
>natural birth and C-sections?

Oh please, you can't be that dense.  I was told over and over that
I _didn't_ want any painkiller because it might "hurt" the baby or
"make it sleepy".  The difference in a C-section is that when you're
making an incision into a conscious person, it's generally a real,
real bad idea to have them writhing with pain.  Although I _was_
given an episiotomy.  The reason no anesthesia is given for that is
because, as they repeatedly inform you in childbirth class, "By
that time the perineum is already numb from pressure".  Well, it
most certainly was NOT numb.

>  Sounds like grounds for a malpractice suit.  

Yeah, right.  "Why are you bringing this suit, ma'am?"  "Because
I had a baby and it HURT!"

Check in with the real world some day.

>Peter Nyikos

Does anyone wonder why I call him Peter the Arrogant?

                      -rocker