Missoula Finally Has a Birth Center, But Midwife is Banned From Hospital
2009 November 2
Over at the Missoula Notebook, I take a look at the latest chapter in the story of one midwife’s fight to bring a birthing center back to Missoula. Just as she completed work on her new center’s first birthing room, the local hospital banned her from its premises.
This matters more than you might think:
While most mothers who begin their deliveries at a birth center finish there, some end up transferring to a hospital (usually for non-emergency reasons, such as changing their minds about receiving an epidural). Naturally, if one of Hebl’s patients transfers to the hospital, she will want Hebl to come with her, but—in early October—Community Medical Center banned Hebl from its premises under threat of arrest.
Read the rest here.
