[525]

It should be noted that in the UK, as opposed to the US and Australia, most births don't have doctors present. Births are normally monitored by a midwife in a maternity ward, as opposed to a doctor in a ob/gen clinic. So the move from a hospital setting into a home setting is not such a big leap in the UK.

[gilgoomesh]

Actually, that's the same as Australia: standard procedure in public hospitals is two midwives in a maternity room with 1 doctor on call overseeing the whole ward.

But moving to a home setting still seems like a poor choice. Even ignoring the higher fatality rate for home births, having the doctor available to sew up the 20% of "normal" deliveries involving vaginal tearing seems like a good move.

[lsaferite]

That's a good point. Our son was delivered by a midwife but due to his size (10 pounds) the OB/GYN came in after to repair the damage caused by delivery. I'm more that a little grateful for that. :O