Deliver Me: New Series on Discovery Health
By Danell Swim
March 24, 2008
I get it. I absolutely get it.
Women have said to me time and again “I love my doctor” and now I get it.
The new series Deliver Me is a reality show that delves into the lives of 3 women, all OB/GYNs, all mothers, all friends, all co-workers. Dr. Yvonne Bohn, Dr. Allison Hill and Dr. Alane Park. Part of the show is their lives outside of work, but the majority is their care for their patients.
They are funny and amusing, heartfelt and caring, and really seem to get along well with their patients. They truly seem to enjoy the part of prenatal care that involves talking to and getting to know pregnant women. I would love to have lunch with these women, because I think it would be a blast.
However… they are practicing defensive, conservative medicine that doesn’t belong with low-risk patients. They choose to induce for convenience, terrify women with scare tactics and perform cesareans for dangerous reasons. All of these things fly in the face of evidence based medicine, and contributes to the poor state of healthcare we have in this country.
And all the while, they laugh and joke with these pregnant mothers… never telling them of the dangers they are facing while in these doctor’s hands.
So I ask myself: Is this ethical? Is this trickery? Are they misleading women in order to pad their wallets?
Something that we often forget when it comes to defensive/conservative medicine is that the more extreme it is, the more it benefits the doctor. As more women are scheduled for cesareans, scheduled for inductions and routinely mandated to undergo extensive testing, the more money changes hands. Not to mention the convenience of having a predictable work week, which is probably even more important for mothers.
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommends against induction for non-medical reasons (2 days past the due date is not considered a medical reason), and elective cesareans for suspected large babies. They advise against these practices because evidence has shown higher rates or mortality and morbidity when this happens, as well as future complications for the mother.
So why in the world would a group of friendly, caring and supportive doctors choose to practice in a way that defies logic?
All too tragically, they’re just keeping up with the status quo.
While the ACOG has these recommendations on file, there is nothing in place that will enforce that doctors abide by the guidelines. And so more often than not, doctors are practicing in a way that benefits themselves, rather than the patient.
And the patients? Well, they get to laugh and joke all the way to the Operating Room. More satisfied with the ethically questionable experience because they had a personable doctor.
Deliver Me is an interesting look into the lives of 3 women, but should not be regarded as educational in any way. It can be used as an educational tool to illustrate how women can be duped by their doctor, but somehow I don’t think it will be taken that way.
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9 Responses to “Deliver Me: New Series on Discovery Health”
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hehehe I wish *my* doc had been that personable!! But it brings up another good point…and that is that even if you personally like the doctor, that’s no guarantee that they have your best interests in mind. Also, if you have a bad experience, you’re more likely to remember it favorably if the doc was nice about it.
In my opinion the show is gross….The Doctors themselves are horrible! Doctors like these “sugar coat” induction and C-section ans Scare the Hell out of women to get their way!…the show is aweful. We need a Show to Highlight natural birth!…But that wouldnt be good for the Doctors Pocket books.
I couldn’t agree more with what this article says. One big “Ditto” to everything.
But I do need to see the next episode. I want to see what happens to the woman (who wants a natural childbirth) but is being told (by the doctors) that her baby might be too big to birth vaginally.
I’ve been cursing at the screen as I watch this show. (Just ask my husband.)
And yes, as Heather B said above, we do need more shows on TV (besides the now cancelled, only airing re-runs in the wee hours of the morning, and somewhat too hands-on birth center) _House of Babies_.
I don’t have footage of my unmedicated birth with our daughter, and I don’t have experience in film or TV. But I would love to offer my time in helping people submit a natural childbirth pilot to Discovery Health Channel.
I am not allowed to watch this show. I forbid myself. I get way too emotionally involved. And my partner can’t handle the tears and PTSD flashbacks I get from things like this.
He says it’s akin to watching “drunk girls at a frat party being raped but made to think they wanted it”
I love the show! I’m a Deliver me fan! I am so touched by it every time i watch it. The doctors are wonderful and caring. I hope they do alot more shows! I can’t live without this show, by far my favorite.
I’ve watched with interest this show. I, too, have been disgusted by the one patient in particular who was given a C-section because her labor was taking too long and they were concerned about an infection. So, they cut her open, and in my opinion, it was unnecessary. Interestingly enough, my OB is in the same medical group as these ladies (I’ve seen them in the office when I go to my visits), but awhile back he and his partner broke off on-call duties with these ladies becasue they “had very differing philosphies” than he and his partner did. He and his partner actually recommend the Breadley Method and from what I’ve heard they really strive to give a woman the kind of birth she wants. I’m due in a couple of months and we’ll see how it goes.
I saw this show for the first time last night and I felt physically ill. Poor woman ruptured her membranes and was contracting on her own comfortably, but of course she was immediately put to bed, told she had 24 hours to deliver and “pitted”. She wanted natural but was in so much pain, even at 3cm, that she needed the “epi”, slow progress, etc, etc and the inevitable c-section. Classic “cascading interventions” with the ob cheerily pronouncing at the end “that baby was wedged in there! She wasn’t coming out!” while the poor mom sobbed because she had stated repeatedly that she really did not want a surgical delivery. I never heard such total bs in my life! That show should be shown in birth classes as a deconstruction of the subject of how obs manipulate their patients to cover their asses against liability and to get home in time for dinner.
my name is claudia i’m 11 years old i woke up this morning at 4.something and flicked over and thats when i saw deliver me the first 45secs of it i loved it and i loved the rest of it the babies are so adorable and so cute i cried when i saw the mothers giving birth to their babies.anyways i loved it and think the nures are lovely and also nice.
I absolutely agree. I too was “tricked” into inducement by my midwife telling me the baby might be big (6 lbs 4 oz????????!!!!!!) and since I was a small woman and gbs pos. the sooner she was out the better. They wanted time to start doses of antibiotics apparently. All this 2 days before I was even due! I will never be so naive with my 2nd child. They quickly stripped my membranes, hooked me up to the pitosen. Guess what? Pain was severe and unrelenting, no breaks in between contractions and I wasn’t progressing. Epidural and hours of pushing later they say if the baby doesn’t come around the pubic bone with help from vaccum, they will use cesaerian. Luckily that didn’t happen but it was close. I never felt so powerless. It was a shame. NEVER AGAIN!!!!