Missouri State Medical Association

Just who writes this stuff for the MSMA anyway? This was sent to us by a friend in the organization. Tom if you are listening-- the bill is moving because folks are no longer being swayed by emotion, rather they are being swayed by the evidence.

"MIDWIFERY BILL ADVANCES
Bright and early yesterday morning the House Committee on Children and Families heard testimony on HB 974, the ever-popular lay midwifery bill. A blanket of wet snow may have contributed to a much smaller than usual ocean of supporters, but there were witnesses aplenty; enough so that the chair, in deference to balance, would not hear them all. David Redfern, M.D., of Springfield, testified on behalf of MSMA in opposition to the bill, and was joined by MSMA member Debbi McCaul, M.D., of Rolla, who appeared on behalf of the Missouri Academy of Family Physicians. Both are veteran witnesses for your causes and both were stellar.
In spite of that, however, the committee went into executive session immediately following the hearing and voted to send the bill on to the full House for further consideration. We never pretended that we could keep this bill bottled up in this committee. But we did not expect so summary an ejection. We cannot yet predict when the bill will hit the House floor, but between now and then we�ll trade whatever chits we can to slow its progress. It is critically important that you let your representatives hear from you about this issue.

Missouri State Medical Association-AN AVALANCHE OF MIDWIFERY

Careful, if you are drinking your morning coffee, you just might spew while you get some good belly laughs out of this legislative report. The MSMA's flair for the dramatic make this great reading. If only we could get the MSMA to talk about evidence based medicine, I would go buy Tom a big screen TV myself.

From the Missouri State Medical Association February 9th legislative report: "AN AVALANCHE OF MIDWIFERY
You have two options. Either begin talking to your legislators about lay midwifery, or get ready to welcome them to your neighborhood. The midwives are roaming the Capitol hallways in droves, night and day, and they are winning this battle. If we had a dollar for every time we've heard a lawmaker say I'm not hearing from my docs about this, we'd be home watching Oprah on a big screen TV right now.
Here are the facts. Last year's midwifery bill was unspeakably bad. It required absolutely no training or education, and even granted the midwives immunity from prosecution no matter the maiming. And it almost passed. Now comes the great compromise. In this year's version the midwife has to be certified by some national midwifery certification body (unless they're grandfathered in or have some sort of religious objection), and they have to 'attend' forty births. Sure, they're not required to be licensed or registered or held accountable in any other manner; but these are magnanimous concessions. It's time to pass this bill.
The House version, HB 974, will be heard in committee next Wednesday morning. We will testify against it, but it would be a lie to say there was any hope of keeping it in committee. Don't batten the hatches. Cry havoc, and let slip the dogs of war! You need to let your legislators hear from you. Now."