Ceasarian Cinema

The Business of Being Born

Tonight's movie is going to be a strange one to explain so ... maybe I won't. I will just say that it was educational and inspiring and thought provoking. It was a documentary entitled The Business of Being Born and it was essentially a pro-home birth documentary on the legal and economic basis for much of the way that America does the birthing process, and maybe all medicine. Indeed, as I observed the way that hospitals were often making decisions in the interest of their own staff and institutional bottom lines, I could not help but compare it to some of the things I have seen in higher education.

For example, something like 30 to 40 percent of births are done by Cesarean section in some parts of the U.S. and ironically, the principle times when they are performed is between 4:00 and 5:00 and 10:00 and 11:00 (according to one source quoted in the movie) indicating that decisions are being made not simply for the mother and baby but also for the schedules of the doctors involved.
The documentary also makes the suggestion that medications are used to speed up the process of childbirth more for logistical reasons (more free beds - more money per hour of service) and that these medications sometimes require that others be administered to compensate for the side effects. One is reminded of restaurants that make their furniture and temperature uncomfortable to discourage long lunches.

I would definitely recommend that the movie be in the packet of information that prospective parents consider as they weigh their options. As is noted in the movie, hospitals MAY be necessary for a certain percentage of pregnancies but they may be detrimental to the process of of most. Pick your poison. But with something as natural as childbirth, it would be nice not to pick poisons at all. What one cannot dismiss is that the paradigm and process of corporatization is affecting just about every major aspect of the American economic and social systems. Investors want money and they are hiring people who will make it for them. Decisions ... in education, in medicine, in sports, in social services, are all being driven by the need of the personnel IN THE INSTITUTIONS or in the INVESTMENT BROKERAGES as much or more than they are being driven by the needs of the people those institutions were intended to serve. Its something people need to be aware of in every aspect of their lives now. 

Question for Comment:  Have you ever experienced the side effects of corpratization on what used to be a human service sector of life?