Is Home Birth Dangerous? | ObGyn Compares Hospital to Homebirth

Dr. Danielle Jones, board-certified ObGyn, reviews home birth vs hospital birth risk, safety, and mortality. Should you have your baby at home or in the hospital? If you're in the United States, watch this before you decide. Homebirth is a small but growing segment of all the births that happen in the United States, up 77% from 2004 to 2017. Most of these are attended by midwives, whose training varies from rigorous graduate-level studies to a brief post-high school course. Unfortunately, the U.S. lacks the consistent regulation, oversight, and integration that makes home births a safe option in countries like the Netherlands and Canada. Importantly, we think midwives are key in improving maternal and neonatal mortality in this country, but how does homebirth play into that? Autonomy is key, but informed choices are required.

00:00 Intro
1:18 Reasons People Consider Home Birth
1:53 US System
5:04 US Midwife Training
8:06 Maternal Benefits
11:58 Neonatal Risks
16:26 Addressing US Outcomes with Safe Midwife Care
20:25 - Autonomy

RESOURCES & STUDIES DISCUSSED:

ACOG Committee Opinion: https://www.acog.org/clinical/clinica...

Perinatal or neonatal mortality among women who intend at the onset of labor to give birth at home compared to women of low obstetrical risk who intend to give birth in the hospital: A systematic review and meta-analyses: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science...

Neonatal mortality in the United States is related to the location of birth (hospital versus home) rather than the type of birth attendant (AJOG, August 2020): https://www.ajog.org/article/S0002-93...

Most intended home births in the US are not low risk (AJOG, April 2020): https://www.ajog.org/article/S0002-93...

Maternal and newborn outcomes in planned home birth vs planned hospital births: a metaanalysis: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20598...

Trends and State Variations in Out-of-Hospital Births in the United States, 2004-2017: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti...

Planned home birth and the association with neonatal hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27865...

Midwives Analysis of North America Study: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/e...

MANA Stats Analysis by Brooke Orosz, PhD statistician: https://texashomebirth.com/evidence/m...

2017 study on increasing rates of home birth and birth center births in the United States from 2004-2017: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti...

Failure To Deliver: https://stories.usatodaynetwork.com/f...

** The information in this video is intended to serve as educational information and is not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. All content, including text, graphics, images, and information, contained in this video is for general information purposes only and does not replace a consultation with your own doctor/advanced practice provider. **