Its needs and workings are best known by the woman herself. Childbirth is seen as an activity that the healthy mother engages in with the midwife guiding and educating the woman during her experience. It is also seen as an event in the lives of the woman and her family. The woman's active birth-giving is enhanced by education, support, and skilled care. In the medical model, power and authority are handed over to the physician and institution.
Responsibility is assumed by the physician, and the woman is encouraged to be dependent.
She is treated as potentially ill, and in an abnormal state of health. The mother and baby are separate patients with possibly conflicting medical and emotional needs. The mother's emotional needs may jeopardize the baby's health. The woman's body is viewed as a mechanical organism that needs fixing, with the needs and workings best known by the physician. The emphasis is on fearing pregnancy and birth as times of stress and danger.