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Thursday, November 17, 2005

Socialism Kills Babies

In an excellent piece in the November 11th NBR, "Birthing disasters are the 'tip of the iceberg'" Masterton based GP/Obstetrician Tim Bailey Gibson explains how government meddling has seriously damaged obstetric care in this country. According to Dr Gibson a once happy and productive relationship between GPs and midwives mean't that pregnant women and their babies received the best of both worlds. Midwives handled the "minute by minute business of labour" while GPs "handled forceps and vacuum deliveries of babies and managed complex cases"

A government decision to pay only a lump sum per delivery meant there was only enough money for one caregiver per birth. Predictictably over 2,000 GPs quit obstetrics in 3 years, leaving the field almost entirely to midwives. Now only 30 GPs nationwide practice obstetrics. Dr Gibson made the point that 3 of these are in his area, the Wairarapa. This is because "8 years ago 2 of the doctors working as GP/Obstetricians approached the Wairarapa Area Health Board and arranged for an alternative and improved payment system".

According to Dr Gibson "midwife training is polytech based and can be done with no nursing background. It is based on a low intervention model, allowing the recent cases-the tip of the iceberg-to reach the coroners court."
Further "Obstetricians regularly are called in much too late to deal with crises, which if recognised earlier, would have turned into humdrum, normal outcomes for mother and baby".

So our socialist health model, with it's rationing of resources is killing babies. Why not allow the market to set remuneration and allow doctors, midwives and families to work out their own mutually beneficial arrangements. Why allow babies to die, families to grieve and taxpayers to haemorrhage simply to keep health bureaucrats in "make work" jobs and socialist politicians
egos intact?

1 Comments:

Blogger Rebel Heart said...

let's ban abortion

8:24 AM  

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