The myth of bed-rest efficacy in pregnancy:

Dr. Maloni’s investigations reveal that obstetricians in the United States tend to discount both the side effects of bed rest and to believe in its value in the face of evidence to the contrary . . . Dr. Maloni hypothesizes that fear of lawsuits may also play a part in its widespread prescription. Bed rest convinces patients and doctors alike that everything possible is being done to sustain a difficult pregnancy. And it is, after all, cheap to prescribe.

Dr. Tuteur says that patients should not take this advice lying down:

Bilston illustrates one of the biggest problems in the doctor patient relationship. The same patient who insists that she is a consumer of health care, entitled to all information and to control of medical decisions unconsciously views the doctor patient relationship in parent-child terms and acts accordingly. She’s mad at her doctor as if he were her daddy; he gave her the “wrong” advice and she was forced to follow it. Well, the doctor is not her daddy, and she is not a child. If she didn’t believe or didn’t like the doctor’s medical advice, she was free to ignore it or to seek another medical opinion. She didn’t do either, though, because the one thing she surely wanted to avoid was taking responsibility for own medical care.