Pushed The Painful Truth About Childbirth and Modern Maternity Care

by Block, Jennifer

• ISBN13: 9780738211664
• ISBN10: 0738211664
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-04-08
• Publisher: Da Capo Press

Summary

A groundbreaking narrative investigation of childbirth in the age of machines, malpractice, and managed care,Pushedpresents the complete picture of maternity care in America. From inside the operating room of a hospital with a 44% Cesarean rate to the living room floor of a woman who gives birth with an illegal midwife, Block exposes a system in which few women have an optimal experience.Pushedsurveys the public health impact of routine labor inductions, C-sections, and epidurals, but also examines childbirth as a women's rights issue: Do women even have theright to choosea normal birth? Is that right being upheld? A wake-up call for our times, Block's gripping research reveals that while emergency obstetric care is essential, we are overusing medical technology at the expense of maternal and infant health.

Author Biography

Jennifer Block is a former editor at Ms. Magazine and an editor of the revised Our Bodies, Ourselves. Her work has appeared in The Nation, Mother Jones, and Elle. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. xi
Preface to the Paperback Edition	p. xiii
Introduction	p. xvii
Arranged Birth	p. 1
The Short Cut	p. 45
Denied Birth	p. 73
Consequences	p. 109
Mothers' Helpers	p. 149
Underground	p. 177
Criminalized	p. 213
Rights	p. 249
Appendix A	p. 273
Appendix B	p. 277
Notes	p. 279
Index	p. 301
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