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Wednesday, December 04, 2002Freida Miller met not only an overzealous prosecutor, but an equally overzealous judge. Prosecuting Attorney Stephen Knowling and Holmes County Common Pleas Judge Thomas D. White have nailed her with felony charges of Unauthorized Practice of Medicine and Possession of Dangerous Drugs. When Miss Miller refused to name the source from whom she got the Petocin, Judge White sent her to jail, and he shows no sign that he is going to let her out — unless she'll squeal. .....It is very difficult not to be angry at a judge and prosecutor who are going after this sweet, holy, and harmless midwife as if she were guilty of peddling cocaine at the local playground. What drives the seemingly unbalanced fervor with which they have gone after this beautiful and beloved Mennonite midwife? Here, in his own words, is what’s driving the judge: "The reason you're being punished is not because of your profession, it's because you failed to obey an order of this court," White told Miller. "Bringing new life into this world is a wonderful profession ... a wonderful ministry." White noted three of the four types of drugs recovered from Miller's home were expired. In one case, he said, "the drugs you were possessing to save lives were almost two years beyond their expiration date. This makes (Miller's possession of the drugs) not only illegal, but bad medicine. What you did was not only a crime, but is a practice that may pose a serious health risk." White said, "You have the keys to your own jail cell," explaining she may be released at any time after identifying the source of the drugs. He asked her to consider to whom she owes her loyalty -- to the doctor, nurse, or physician who illegally provided her the drugs, or her patients who will be without her services while she's incarcerated. Doesn’t come across as such a monster now, does he? Turns out Midwife Miller wasn't in possession of just Pitocin, but three other drugs as well, drugs which she knows very little about. In fact, if Ms. Miller were a certified nurse midwife, trained to understand and use drugs properly, instead of an untrained lay midwife, she wouldn't be in trouble at all. By her own admission, she doesn't even know what dose should be used, relying instead on "single-dose vials." Although Ms. Miller’s intentions are good, her own description of her practice isn’t very reassuring: During her career she has had infants die, but the percentage is "no higher than in a hospital," she said, unwilling to give an exact count. Never has she lost a mother, she said. If she feels a patient or a delivery is high-risk, she said, she tries to properly advise parents. "I put a lot of stock into the parents' faith, and if they feel this is what God wants them to do, I try to help them," she said. In high-risk situations -- including breech presentation, high blood pressure, heart problems, pre-eclampsia, diabetes, twins and premature labor -- she said she advises parents to seek outside help from a physician. And, while she doesn't have her own backup physician, many doctors "back up the moms." Home births are risky. Very risky. Even in the best of situations, with a healthy mother and uneventful pregnancy, things can go bad in the blink of an eye. Add complications such as those above, and you’re just asking for trouble. A responsible midwife would recognize when the potential complications are beyond her skills, and insist that patients get the medical care they need for a safe delivery. She wouldn't facilitate the patient's bad choice by going ahead with a home delivery. A doctor who operated outside the scope of his practice would be just as guilty. In fact, it turns out that the mother in question was a high-risk patient and that Miller tried to stop the bleeding first by questionable means: ...Miller said she administered the antihemorrhagic drugs to the mother in question after more traditional herbal techniques were seemingly not working. ...Prior to delivery, Miller said, the woman knew she had a history of postpartum bleeding and the delivery might be one of high risk. But then, Miller isn’t being punished because she overstepped the bounds of her abilities. She isn't even being punished for practicing medicine without a license. She’s being punished for failure to obey a court order. This isn’t as noble as it’s made to sound in the NRO piece. For one thing, Pitocin and Methergine aren’t the benign drugs that the article makes them out to be. They carry very real risks of hypertensive crises, seizures, strokes, and uterine rupture. Although they can be life-saving, they are also very risky, and should be used in a setting that allows for careful monitoring of the mother. Then, there's the very real danger that those drugs she administers could interact with the herbal medicines she uses. Someone put these drugs into the hands of a woman who wasn’t qualified to use them , and in doing so, put those women who trust Miller with their lives at risk. She was lucky this time, her patient had no adverse effects from the drugs, but she may not be as lucky next time. It would be better for her and her patients if she were more selective in who she delivered at home. posted by Sydney on 12/04/2002 07:08:00 AM 0 comments 0 Comments: |
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