Perhaps you have heard of the latest “natural” birthing trend called a “lotus birth”? This practice involves leaving the newborn attached to the placenta until the umbilical cord separates “naturally” or, to be blunt about it, rots off. Let’s get two sets of basic facts established before we continue: The placenta receives its oxygenated blood from …
Continue reading “A lotus birth is leaving a newborn attached to a decomposing placenta”
Every few news cycles placenta-eating seems to make the rounds. I’ve already seen it a couple of times this year, so I figured the Internet is trying to tell me something. Some women, but mostly those who recommend and/or prepare placenta for them, think that ingesting placenta can cure/help post partum depression and possibly a …
Continue reading “Just because you can eat your placenta doesn’t mean you should”
The Irish Catholic Bishops have seen fit to clarify the church’s view on gynecology given Savita Halappanavar’s death from sepsis at 17 weeks in her pregnancy and the concern that evacuating her uterus was delayed because the fetus still had a heart beat. The full statement is here, but this is the excerpt I find …
While a full analysis of the tragic case of Savita Halappanavar’s death from sepsis at 17 weeks in her pregnancy is not possible without access to her medical records, there is a key piece of information provided by her husband that supports his claim that a termination was not allowed or was delayed because of …
This is what is known. Savita Halappanavar was 31 years old and happy to be pregnant with her first child. Then, at 17 weeks, tragedy struck and she was “found to be miscarrying.” Her husband reports that she was in “severe pain” for three days at the hospital and a termination was requested. He says …
Continue reading “Did Irish Catholic law or malpractice kill Savita Halappanavar?”
Dr. Jen Gunter 