Informed decision making in maternity care.
In the United States, federal acts and regulations, as well as professional guidelines, clearly dictate that every pregnant woman has the right to base her maternity care decisions on accurate, up-to-date, comprehensible information. Despite these efforts, evidence suggests that informed consent within current health-care practice is restricted and inconsistently implemented. Patient access to evidence-based research is imperative under the scope of informed consent and is particularly important during a time when perinatal mortality and morbidity rates, interventions, and disparities are on the rise in the United States. This article describes the Coalition for Improving Maternity Services' investigation of the breakdown of informed consent in maternity care.
HOLLY GOLDBERG is a doctoral candidate in prenatal and perinatal psychology at Santa Barbara Graduate Institute in Santa Barbara, California. For more than 14 years, she has worked in the birthing field as a researcher, advocate, childbirth educator, prenatal yoga and t'ai chi instructor, and birth attendant .
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