Many people consider home births to be unnecessarily dangerous. They worry about everything that could go wrong, and they ask if it is really wise to be so far from a professional medical center in case there is an emergency. They ask if children are more likely to pass away during childbirth if parents opt to do it at home.
These are valid questions, but the statistics do provide some clear answers. Even though the debate continues, experts note that perinatal death rates are very low at home. In fact, one study showed that they were significantly lower than they are in the hospital.
The study said that the perinatal death rate in a hospital, with a physician attending, was 0.64 per every 1,000 births. The rate in a hospital with a midwife was 0.57 for every 1,000 births. The rate for planned home births — not accidental or emergency births — was just 0.35 per every 1,000 births.
All of these rates are low, but the rate at home is nearly half that of the rate in a hospital with a physician.
This does raise a lot of important questions. Why are the rates so high in hospitals? What could those in medical centers do to reduce the fatality rate? How many non-fatal injuries also happen in hospitals in a similar situation? Is it really safer to go to the hospital to have your child?
If your child has been injured during the birthing process, especially if you believe the doctor or the rest of the medical staff was at fault, you need to know all of your legal rights.
Source: NCBI, “Outcomes of planned home birth with registered midwife versus planned hospital birth with midwife or physician,” Patricia A. Janssen, accessed June 15, 2018
