In this rare, behind-the-scenes look at what goes on in hospitals across the country, a longtime medical insider and international authority on childbirth assesses the flawed American maternity care system, powerfully demonstrating how it fails to deliver safe, effective care for both mothers and babies. Written for mothers and fathers, obstetricians, nurses, midwives, scientists, insurance professionals, and anyone contemplating having a child, this passionate exposé documents how, in the most expensive maternity care system in the world, women have lost control over childbirth and what the disturbing results of this phenomenon have been. Born in the USA examines issues including midwifery and the safety of out-of-hospital birth, how the process of becoming a doctor can adversely affect both practitioners and their patients, and why there has been a rise in the use of risky but doctor-friendly interventions, including the use of Cytotec, a drug that has not been approved by the FDA for pregnant women. Most importantly, this gripping investigation, supported by many troubling personal stories, explores how women can reclaim the childbirth experience for the betterment of themselves and their children. Born in the USA tells:* Why women are 70% more likely to die in childbirth in America than in Europe* What motivates obstetricians to use dangerous and unnecessary drugs and procedures* How the present malpractice crisis has been aggravated by the fear of accountability* Why procedures such as cesarean section and birth inductions are so readily used

Preface1. Maternity Care in Crisis: Where Are the Doctors?2. Tribal Obstetrics3. Choose and Lose: Promoting Cesarean Section and Other Invasive Interventions4. Forced Labor: Induction or Seduction5. Hunting Witches: Midwifery in America6. Where to Be Born: Here Come the Obstetric Police7. Rights and Wrongs: The "Malpractice Crisis," Legal Protections for Pregnant Women, and Regulation by Litigation8. Vision of a Better Way to Be Born9. How to Get Where We Need to BeNotesIndex