Doctor refuse to treat you when choosing home birth??

Hobbitfeet

Just wondering if it is legally ok for your GP to refuse to treat you if you choose to have a home birth?
I went to my GP when I found out I was pregnant and had to fill in all the forms she didnt even ask me if I wanted a homebirth and checked hospital birth on my form without asking me what I wanted. I noticed it when she gave it to me to sign and I started to discuss the option of home birth with her, she cut me off straight away and told me she "would be saying goodbye to me if I choose home birth" that she "refused to treat me if I did".

Can she legally do this? She is my local doctor in a rural area.

January

Might be worth contacting the Homebirth Association of Ireland and asking their opinion??

www.homebirth.ie

Mothman

Sorry, can't answer your specific question, but,
I would make the effort to be involved with people who support your choice to have a home birth. Alas it may mean having to travel a bit further for a supporting GP.

We're planning a 3rd homebirth in a few months. Our GP has no issue at all and we'd change GP if he did. But while we are rural, we do have the luxury of plenty of local GPs. I appreciate the lack of choice you may have in this regard.

All the best for the next few months

GoerGirl

This has come up with some women I know. I think most GPs are happy to provide care and respect women's autonomy of choice, however, unfortunately, the system supports GPs who choose not to.

The Medical Protection Society and Medisec state that GPs are not required to provide care for women outside of hospital based maternity care.

Medisec published it on their website: http://www.medisec.ie/newsletter/Medisec_nl_oct03.pdf
It reads there: iii) PRE AND POST NATAL CARE
“Mother and Infant Scheme Application Form” (Section 62 and 63 of Health Act 1970)
The Panel are of the view that if the patient ticks yes for a domiciliary delivery, then our members should not under any circumstances sign this form as any involvement in a home birth is excluded from the Policy.

Ayla

Hobbitfeet wrote: »

I started to discuss the option of home birth with her, she cut me off straight away and told me she "would be saying goodbye to me if I choose home birth" that she "refused to treat me if I did".

I also can't technically answer your specific question, but if my GP - who I rely on for considerate and sympathetic advise and care for myself & my family - ever spoke to me that way, I'd be "saying goodbye" to her & taking my business elsewhere. So much for bedside manners!

Hobbitfeet

Thanks for the advice. I had just moved to a new area was there about 3 weeks when I found out I was pregnant so that was my first time at that GP I was quite shocked at the way she said it and she was very against home birth she told me I was crazy to be even thinking of a home birth that it was so risky especially for a first birth. When I told her my sister had had a perfect home birth with her first her reply was that my sister was one of the lucky ones.

It did kind of put me off having a home birth a little but now I am thinking more and more about it. What can I do if I can't find a GP with in reasonable distance who accepts to treat me if I choose home birth?

Ayla

When I mentioned it to my GP & commented that women throughout history have been doing it, surely I can too, she said something along the lines of "well, women also had loads of babies so if they lost one along the way it wasn't a big deal." :eek:

Needless to say I wasn't well impressed. But I had more or less opted against home birth only b/c I'm 40 mins from the hospital so I just got over it. She wound up being a good doc all said.

SanFran07

My Midwife provided all of my antenatal care so I never saw my GP after my initial appointment. I was also booked into my local hospital for my bloodtests/scans. You don't have to tell your GP anything. Your care wouldn't be any different whether you were having a hospital or homebirth. Self employed Midwives are very hard to come by so if you haven't already made enquiries I'd suggest you start with the Homebirth Association asap.

molly bronski

My sister asked her GP about a homebirth-she persuaded her not to go for it. Her arguement: it's OK until an emergency arises. If the proverbial hits the fan in a hospital setting, there are all the midwives, obstetricians, paediatricians and anaesthetists available for a "crash" section, with full resuscitation facilities present. And yes, things can still go wrong in hospitals. If an emergency happens in the community there's a midwife and a GP who has probably had no more than 6 months experience in obstetrics (compared with several years on a specific obstetric training programme), limited equipment and a wait for the ambulance to get out to the house (assuming that they aren't all around the county out on other emergency calls) and then the trip back into the hospital. She pointed out that that's a worst case scenario, but that worst case scenarios are the ones that result in death or brain damage.

She also said that her insurance company didn't provide cover for homebirths, so if something went wrong, and there was a court case, she could lose her home.

My sister was convinced, had a painful but problem-free delivery in hospital and is happy to go back there again.

hope this helps

iguana

molly bronski wrote: »

She also said that her insurance company didn't provide cover for homebirths, so if something went wrong, and there was a court case, she could lose her home.

What?

Squiggler

molly bronski wrote: »

My sister asked her GP about a homebirth-she persuaded her not to go for it. Her arguement: it's OK until an emergency arises. If the proverbial hits the fan in a hospital setting, there are all the midwives, obstetricians, paediatricians and anaesthetists available for a "crash" section, with full resuscitation facilities present. And yes, things can still go wrong in hospitals. If an emergency happens in the community there's a midwife and a GP who has probably had no more than 6 months experience in obstetrics (compared with several years on a specific obstetric training programme), limited equipment and a wait for the ambulance to get out to the house (assuming that they aren't all around the county out on other emergency calls) and then the trip back into the hospital. She pointed out that that's a worst case scenario, but that worst case scenarios are the ones that result in death or brain damage.

Planning a home birth doesn't mean giving birth at home no matter what. If anything there is better monitoring in the run up to the birth to ensure that there are no risk factors that indicate a requirement for a hospital transfer.

If there are complications prior to, or during labour, then a transfer is arranged to the hospital (and all women planning a home birth are required to be registered with a maternity hospital - just in case). Unless you're planning a c-section you're not going to hospital any earlier, homebirth or not.

Worst case scenarios happen in hospitals too.

That GP was scaremongering.

SanFran07

GPs do not attend homebirths and have no interest in attending them. With only 6 months maternity experience working in a hospital they are not qualified to provide a homebirth service. Maybe GPs should start educating themselves on the evidence around homebirth specifically the large UK 'birthplace' study from earlier this year.

molly bronski wrote: »

She also said that her insurance company didn't provide cover for homebirths, so if something went wrong, and there was a court case, she could lose her home.

My sister was convinced, had a painful but problem-free delivery in hospital and is happy to go back there again.

hope this helps

Orion

THe OP is over 9 months ago. It probably safe to assume that the child is now born so the question is moot.