This midwife does about 200 to 300 births a year, at $1,000 per birth.
It doesn’t sound like she worries about malpractice. Is it because the Amish are less likely to sue?
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Do you know the litigation tendencies of the Amish, kevin, or are you just making it up?
Alternate hypothesis: Maybe she doesn’t worry about malpractice because she kills fewer babies than the averaged ob?
From 2006 -
How the Amish lower Healthcare costs.
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/38170.php
Only 65% of her patient are Amish.
More interesting is perhaps she doesn’t get sued because of the personal relationships she develops. Perhaps her patients feel that if something did go wrong that they were friends and that she did the best that she could.
After all, if you slip on water, fall and break your arm in a friend’s kitchen you wouldn’t think of suing them but what happens if you did it at McDonalds?
The scriptures teach that Christians are not to take each other to court. More importantly, they teach us that all that happens to those who love God is within God’s will, and that we are to accept his will. If she does her best but the baby dies or is injured, then that is God’s will. If the child has cerebral palsy or mental retardation, then that is a blessing from God from which spiritual gifts will flow, properly accepted. If indeed we do feel wronged by our fellow Christian, then we are to forgive.
Sometime when people are angry at their doctor for a bad outcome, it is really God that they have a grievance with. They refuse to accept that He, not they, are in charge and that the universe that He made is under no obligation to conform to their wishes and expectations.
I think it’s the personal relationships and that her patients are a self-selecting group who want a low tech birth. If you are crazy for a perfect birth you wouldn’t choose a midwife.
The Bible lays out all kinds of laws and procedures for dealing with problems. The books of law in the Old Testament are full if what/if situations and how they should be rectified. A great deal of purpose of the Holy books is to provide order to community life. Law and Courts are important to that.
There is a difference between accepting life’s events as the will of God and asking for justice for wrongs that are committed against you. It’s entirely possible the Amish and those who select a Midwifed birth set the bar a little higher on the will of God side, but to say that most people who sue a Doctor should accept God’s will instead is not right.
I’ve had to deal with the patients when things go bad, and they have to be transferred to a real-live hospital.
Midwife practice is low-risk because we physicians assume their risk.
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