TITLE: SAFER CHILDBIRTH: A Critical 
History of Maternity Care 
AUTHOR: Tew, Marjorie
ISBN pb: 1 85343 426 4
PAGES: 400
LIST PRICE pb: £ 15.95 ($25.00)
PUB DATE: October 1998 (Third Edition)


 
 
 
DESCRIPTION: When Safer Childbirth? was first published in 1990, most people believed that hospital birth must be safer than birth at home, simply because obstetric skills and modern technology are available in an institution which are not on hand at home. Through her painstaking statistical analysis of perinatal mortality rates for hospital and home, Tew showed that this was a misconception. Statistics suggested, indeed, that for some women hospital birth might actually be more dangerous than home birth.

These findings and further compelling evidence gathered by the House of Commons Health Committee in 1992 should have revolutionized the direction of maternity care, mothers, not doctors, should henceforth have the dominant role in deciding what sort of care best served their and their babies' interests. This third edition tells how the hopes were dashed that the maternity service would be reformed and become an outstanding example of evidence based medicine.

This important, original work is essential reading for all providers and users of maternity care and for students of social policy.

"Every now and again a book is published that breaks established moulds of thinking and challenges preconceptions and prejudices. This is such a book"

Sheila Kitzinger


"As ever, Marjorie Tew's eloquence and undoubted ability to utilize factual and statistical data to produce a convincing argument shine through in this new edition of Safer Childbirth....the book is well written, well researched and balanced"

Complementary Therapies in Nursing and Midwifery