The Medicalization of Birth, Detrimental Birthing Practices, and the Importance of Breast Feeding
The Medicalization of Birth Up until the early part of the 1900s, before the medical system really took hold, birth was exclusively done at home. Local care givers, such as neighbors had assisted. Today, about 98% of birth is given in hospitals. Around the same time frame, incentives were given to stop giving birth at home and start giving birth in the hospital. It was also outlawed for midwives to practice. Doctors were paid not by quality of outcome,...