<story><title>Car Mechanic Dreams Up a Tool to Ease Births</title><url>http://nytimes.com/2013/11/14/health/new-tool-to-ease-difficult-births-a-plastic-bag.html?ref=health&amp;_r=0</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>coffeemug</author><text>Do you think it likely that an entire field that evolved over a period of thousands of years, has thousands of people doing the job all over the world daily, and is so common and important that there is scientific research performed on it pretty much not-stop, just missed this idea?</text></item><item><author>jonah</author><text>I bet we&amp;#x27;d reduce the need for extreme intervention like this if we&amp;#x27;d encourage women to deliver in more traditional positions. Prone and sedated is just about the worst possible way to have a kid.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>femto</author><text>The field itself is fractured.  Many midwives make the point that a complication free birth is not a medical event, and the majority of births are complication free.  Have the medical intervention nearby for an emergency, but don&amp;#x27;t make it the default.&lt;p&gt;There is a line or argument that intervention is a self-reinforcing cycle, in that the initial intervention raises stress levels in the mother, which promotes a fight-or-flight response, which causes the birth process to regress, which increases the likelihood of more intervention, and so on.  This isn&amp;#x27;t to say intervention should be avoided, but only do it if it is necessary, since it does have consequences.</text></comment>
<story><title>Car Mechanic Dreams Up a Tool to Ease Births</title><url>http://nytimes.com/2013/11/14/health/new-tool-to-ease-difficult-births-a-plastic-bag.html?ref=health&amp;_r=0</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>coffeemug</author><text>Do you think it likely that an entire field that evolved over a period of thousands of years, has thousands of people doing the job all over the world daily, and is so common and important that there is scientific research performed on it pretty much not-stop, just missed this idea?</text></item><item><author>jonah</author><text>I bet we&amp;#x27;d reduce the need for extreme intervention like this if we&amp;#x27;d encourage women to deliver in more traditional positions. Prone and sedated is just about the worst possible way to have a kid.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>rosser</author><text>Western medicine treats pregnancy and childbirth &lt;i&gt;like a disease&lt;/i&gt;. So, yes; I do think they probably get delivery wrong.</text></comment>