Born Reflection

The Business of Being Born Reflection This documentary shows that the U.S. has the second highest infant mortality rate among the industrialized nations despite having the most advanced healthcare systems worldwide. Concerns are thus raised on the how obstetricians handle the childbirth cases to amount to such exponential infant mortality rate in the U.S. The film views the success of traditional birthing across Europe and Japan with the assistance of the midwives. The abandonment of the midwifery assistances is pointed to be the possible contributing factor towards the increased infant mortality rate in the U.S. The Business of Being Born, therefore observes the history of obstetrics and the role of the midwives and how some medical procedures …show more content…
The hospitals just make money through high client turnover, and they ensure that by inducing medications to speed labor which indeed just make the process intense and severely painful. The hospital beds are thus emptied at such a faster rate. The documentary outlines some of the adverse effects of hospital birthing as post-traumatic stress, birth defects and ruptured uteruses of the mothers due to the medications administered in the process. Some babies even developed cancer from pelvic X-rays.
The film discourages the lithotomy birth position as is common in most hospitals. It encourages squatting in warm water when birthing which is less stressful. Besides, it is easier to catch the baby in the squatting position. The C-section birth is pointed out to be safe, but not in subsequent births. The repetition of the latter is risky, and the process is expensive.
In conclusion, the film observes that the increased infant mortality rate is attributed to the blind trust on the technological advancements in the hospitals. It is, however, not one-note polemic by identifying that birthing at home is not the absolute answer. Significantly, it encourages the practice of natural birthing as it is safe as is seen in other industrialized