Homebirth in Oregon

Since the beginning of the year, I have heard about around a dozen homebirth losses in that state. So, I'm going to explore the ins and outs of midwifery in Oregon.

1. What is the legal standing of midwives in Oregon?? 

 According to CFM: Direct entry midwifery is legal in Oregon as a completely unregulated practice. There is also a voluntary licensure for those who want to recieve medicaid reimbursement Oregon Medical Assistance program (OMAP) and maximize the opportunity for insurance reimbursement; however, in reality access to medicaid payments for fee-for-service maternity care in the home is very limited due to the administrative rules set up by ). Licensure requires successful completion of the North American Registry of Midwives written and skills exam. 

In other words: CPM's can bill medicaid so they can try to make more money and if you want to call yourself a midwife, have fun practicing. 

2. Who tracks the data for this state??

 The answer to this is pretty much nobody. I found on Oregon PublicHealth that in 2006, 269 infants died. Oddly enough, only 33 babies show up on the CDC Wonder Database. I also managed to find this. We know that Melissa Cheney has also insisted all midwives submit their data to MANA, but we also know she is on the board for both places and making good money doing it, and we also know MANA doesn't share data. All in all, nobody tracks outcomes! 

3. How many Licensed Midwives are there??

   Thee are 74 Licensed Midwives. However, the number of unlicensed midwives practicing is unknown as nobody tracks them nor are they held accountable for negative outcomes. 

I did find that there are 36 practices that employ CNM's!

In 2010, Andaluz Birth Center filed a class action suit against Oregon Health and Science University. 

Midwives say doctors and nurses at OHSU have filed baseless complaints to the licensing agency meant to thwart competition.

According to this article , there were 6 complaints lodged against that cente when patients an into trouble and were transported. It states the Oregon homebirth numbers at 877 in 2009. Of course no neonatal or perinatal mortality numbers are mentioned, but, it says fetal deaths are .1% for Licensed Midwives and .5% for Physicians. Oh wait, it does share numbers. According to a 2009 BC Homebirth study, the risk of a baby dying in a midwife attended homebirth is 1.7% versus .6% in the hospital. This study included breech, twins, and vbac (which we know increase risks, but their moms and midwives don't really seem to care about that one). That is a 2.8 times higher risk of death, yikes!


 It's scary to look at this state while people think they are something to be idolized and emulated. It's also sad to think that the only people who seem to care about the dead babies are doctors and nurses who tried standing up against the broken corrupt midwifery system in that state.

Homebirth in Oregon

Since the beginning of the year, I have heard about around a dozen homebirth losses in that state. So, I'm going to explore the ins and outs of midwifery in Oregon.

1. What is the legal standing of midwives in Oregon?? 

 According to CFM: Direct entry midwifery is legal in Oregon as a completely unregulated practice. There is also a voluntary licensure for those who want to recieve medicaid reimbursement Oregon Medical Assistance program (OMAP) and maximize the opportunity for insurance reimbursement; however, in reality access to medicaid payments for fee-for-service maternity care in the home is very limited due to the administrative rules set up by ). Licensure requires successful completion of the North American Registry of Midwives written and skills exam. 

In other words: CPM's can bill medicaid so they can try to make more money and if you want to call yourself a midwife, have fun practicing. 

2. Who tracks the data for this state??

 The answer to this is pretty much nobody. I found on Oregon PublicHealth that in 2006, 269 infants died. Oddly enough, only 33 babies show up on the CDC Wonder Database. I also managed to find this. We know that Melissa Cheney has also insisted all midwives submit their data to MANA, but we also know she is on the board for both places and making good money doing it, and we also know MANA doesn't share data. All in all, nobody tracks outcomes! 

3. How many Licensed Midwives are there??

   Thee are 74 Licensed Midwives. However, the number of unlicensed midwives practicing is unknown as nobody tracks them nor are they held accountable for negative outcomes. 

I did find that there are 36 practices that employ CNM's!

In 2010, Andaluz Birth Center filed a class action suit against Oregon Health and Science University. 

Midwives say doctors and nurses at OHSU have filed baseless complaints to the licensing agency meant to thwart competition.

According to this article , there were 6 complaints lodged against that cente when patients an into trouble and were transported. It states the Oregon homebirth numbers at 877 in 2009. Of course no neonatal or perinatal mortality numbers are mentioned, but, it says fetal deaths are .1% for Licensed Midwives and .5% for Physicians. Oh wait, it does share numbers. According to a 2009 BC Homebirth study, the risk of a baby dying in a midwife attended homebirth is 1.7% versus .6% in the hospital. This study included breech, twins, and vbac (which we know increase risks, but their moms and midwives don't really seem to care about that one). That is a 2.8 times higher risk of death, yikes!


 It's scary to look at this state while people think they are something to be idolized and emulated. It's also sad to think that the only people who seem to care about the dead babies are doctors and nurses who tried standing up against the broken corrupt midwifery system in that state.

"I'm prepared to have my baby die"

This is not the first time I have seen homebirth advocates nonchalantly talk about being prepared and thinking about their babies potential death when planning their ultimate birth. 

Let me say that you can NEVER, EVER, concoct a scenario in your head that comes close to the reality of actually losing your baby. Even parents who carry a baby they know will not survive don't know what it would be like nor are they prepared for losing their child. You can think life and death are beautifully interwoven, but there is nothing beautiful about death that happens before life. 

Try out this exercise here. Grab a few friends and a knife set. Ask one to plunge the biggest one into your heart. Ask another to plunge one into your back, probably a bread knife because those are long enough to puncture a lung. have another friend grab two more knives and drive them into your feet so you cannot move. Ask someone to give you some kind of psychedelic drug so reality is incredibly altered. Have them punch you in the eyes until your eyes are red and swollen and you look about double your age. This is nowhere close but it allows you feel some of the physical symptoms that losing your child causes. 

How about just sit online and look at infant funeral photos. Look at photos of stillborn babies. Watch videos of funerals for infants. Watch memorial videos. Write up an obituary for one of your living kids and place their photo next to it. Still doesn't come close! Reach out to grieving parents and watch them in their grief. Help plan a baby's funeral. Attend an infant funeral and watch the parents. Watch how they tenderly touch their baby. Then watch as they have to say goodbye forever. Yeah, you still have no idea. 

There is nothing I can say that can remotely give you any inkling into what it is like to lose your baby. If you think for one second that you can imagine what it is like, you are an idiot who is dead wrong. The day you go through it is the day you know what it's like. So, plan your birth, but don't say some stupid thing about preparing to lose your baby or imagining what it would be like or anything like that. Please. And let's not wax on poetically about life or birth being part of death. Death doesn't go hand in hand with birth like it does in homebirth circles. Death isn't beautiful or something good that happens to a baby.  There are no positive ways to see the death of a baby. It's a horrible thing to experience, the worst that could ever happen to a person. 

Course, you could surprise everyone and be one of the homebirth loss parents who don't care about their child. They normally bury their baby and forget about it. Parents who really love their children don't behave that way!