Thanks for writing Born In The USA. Your idea that America's health care system is taking advantage of the trust that pregnant women have in their practices to minimize care and maximize profits with little to no regard to the mother and child, and destroying small practices that still believe in the traditional way of birth, made me rethink the way we go about pregnancy & birth
To me the final third of your book really covered explained in depth how we can fix our broken birthing system in you well explained 10 step process that covers everything from educating the public, to using science to improve home births, which completely complemented the first 2/3rds of the book. But let me be more specific. These were what i thought were the most interesting ideas that really caught my attention in the final third.
1. I really enjoyed the chart of "Global Evolution of Birthing Practices," because it showed not only where we stand in terms of knowledge of birthing, but where other major countries and populations are too. (213)
2. I felt that step three was also hugely important in terms of knowledge for the women who are giving birth, and giving them their rights back. You are right to say that it will not only cut excess by doctors, but that it will make them accountable for their actions and therefore inform women more about the decisions they are about to make. (224)
3. The budget breakdown on page 243 and 244 was really a huge nail in the coffin of hospital health care. You explained how much money we spend on healthcare and how although we spend double on a hospital obstetrician when compared to midwives, we still have a higher infant mortality rate then 22 countries. We need to reassess what we value not only in terms of money, but in terms of the safety of our pregnant wives, friends, mothers, sisters, ect!
To be clear - you sought to provide a policy analysis of the health care system from the perspective of a doctor who had once been there himself, for the book-reading-public to better understand pregnancy & birth in our culture. Given that aim, and your book, the best advice I would give for a 2nd edition of the text would be to appeal to a more ranged audience by writing a book that even less educated pregnant women, or expecting fathers will be able to read and comprehend, so that they too can be warned of this system they are about to enter. But I don't want you to feel like I'm criticizing. I appreciate the immense amount of labor you dedicated to this important issue and particularly for making me think about The flaws of the industrialized birthing process from the abuse of birth enhancing drugs, to the shrinking of the practice of midwifery & the ten steps that we as a population can read and replicate in our own lives to simplify and enhance the birthing process by natural and proven methods. This has made me think about what kind of process my parents could have chosen for me and how that could have altered my personality of ideals. It also makes me more conscious about the injustices that are being had every day and the countless women who are lured in by false ideas and then cheated out of an experience that every mother should have the option to have. Thank you for writing this wonderful book and thank you and thank you for taking the time to read my letter.
Sincerely,
Sam Jossen
School of The Future Senior
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