Expecting Trouble: What Expectant Parents Should Know about Prenatal Care in America - Hardcover

Strong Jr., Thomas H.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0814797679 ISBN 13: 9780814797679

Publisher: NYU Press, 2000

Synopsis

A controversial volume dispelling current misconceptions about prenatal care

In this controversial volume, Dr. Strong dispels widespread misconceptions about the effectiveness of prenatal care in its current form and explains how mothers themselves may influence the course and outcome of their pregnancies to a greater degree than do their obstetricians. He provides specific questions that parents should be asking their health care providers to ensure that they and their babies receive the best care possible.

About this title

About the Author

Thomas H. Strong, Jr., M.D., an award-winning speaker and researcher, is a board-certified Obstetrician-Gynecologist and Maternal Fetal Medicine Specialist in Pheonix, Arizona. He is on the clinical faculty at the University of Arizona and the University of California at San Francisco (Fresno) Departments of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

Reviews

"What makes this book important is its comprehensiveness, its general readability, and the fact that it has been written by a practicing obstetrician…"

Drawing from the literature of medical and epidemiological research, Strong"a second-generation obstetrician"presents compelling evidence that prenatal care in the United States does little to improve birth outcomes. The current trend toward universal prenatal care is fueled not by evidence that it is effective, he argues, but by unexamined assumptions as well as political expediency and economic greed. While stressing that access to prenatal care should not be impeded, Strong recommends that the technology and costs for uncomplicated pregnancies be scaled down, noting that prenatal care for these pregnancies could be shifted from obstetricians to midwives whose care is as effective but less costly. Obstetricians, in turn, could then focus on what they do well"assisting pregnancies with medical complications that respond to treatment"and the routine use of costly, high-tech procedures that do not improve outcome could be halted. In support of his vision, Strong explores a range of medical and public-policy issues currently under debate. Provocative and stimulating, this book performs a valuable service by bringing evidence on this vital issue out of the research literature and into public discourse and providing the tools for a long-needed paradigm shift. Recommended for public and academic libraries."Noemie Maxwell, Seattle Midwifery Sch.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: NYU Press
• Publication date: 2000
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0814797679
• ISBN 13: 9780814797679
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 258