The Crime? Post-Birth Treatment at Home
Removing a Baby From the Home Should Be a Last Resort
This story is personal to me.
As a mama bear, humanitarian, and mentor to young women (many of whom are mothers), I am beyond outraged, but unsurprised, that Texas authorities took a nursing one-week-old baby (born March 21st) from a Dallas couple for choosing to follow a protocol suggested for the treatment of jaundice — phototherapy— after being diagnosed by their pediatrician three days after birth. Jaundice is common among newborns.
Their crime? They decided to follow the treatment AT HOME under the care and guidance of their licensed midwife, with whom they had a legal home birth just a week prior. They had begun natural protocols for increasing breastfeeding, using sunlight, and had purchased equipment for phototherapy at home.
Not only was this sweet baby girl removed from her home and from her mother who was nursing her (therefore no longer receiving the treatment for her jaundice and also causing a health crisis for the mother, as well as creating the worst kind of trauma for both parents), but authorities also allowed the wrong mother’s name to be listed on the baby’s removal affidavit.
The name listed as the mother was the woman who removed the child from the home and who the parents do not know. The baby ended up in a foster care system with no birth certificate or connection to either parent. In addition, the judge extended the hearing date and refused to hold an emergency hearing! It’s been over three weeks since baby Mila has not been in her home with her parents.
Upon further investigation of the story, I see that after a significant outcry by protestors, the mother’s name has now been fixed on the affidavit.
In addition, a big part of the problem is that the pediatrician wanted the baby to have phototherapy at the hospital. According to the Mayo Clinic, severe cases of jaundice, left untreated, pose a risk of brain damage. But this doctor never examined the baby himself. Instead, he saw high numbers of bilirubin from the tests taken by the Nurse Practitioner, therefore the jaundice diagnosis, and the standard recommendation of phototherapy—all delivered via a phone call.
“The doctor gave them options for care that the family agreed to follow,” says Qiana Arnold, a doula and birth justice advocate with the Afiya Center, a Black-centered reproductive justice group, told NBC News. “They even agreed to connect the doctor with their midwife, but they were clear that they were keeping their baby under the midwife’s care. It felt like retaliation from the doctor.”
While phototherapy is the most preferred current treatment for neonatal jaundice, filtered sunlight also works, according to Stanford Medicine/Children’s Health.
I don’t have a problem with doctors pushing hard for the care they feel is needed. My issue concerns lousy communication and fast doctor demands that cause extreme decisions to be made, leading to traumatic outcomes, as well as an unwillingness by Western medicine doctors to believe anything else can work. Yes, we all know doctors are overbooked and overwhelmed, but they still need to understand the reasons for distrust in the medical system, either because of cultural experience, bad prior experiences, or medical preferences such as natural methods. This mom had two C-sections with her two older kids, and perhaps distrust in care developed there. Anyhow, doctors need to be able to meet patients where they are and problem-solve around the mismatches for win-win outcomes.
Besides, for the child’s lifetime well-being, how is it better or healthier for the infant to be losing the vital nutrients of her mother’s breast milk? How is it better for the infant to experience trauma by being torn from its parents? How is it better for the infant to miss out on precious bonding time? Was any of this even figured into the equation? Surely a good solution to all of the challenges could have been figured out.
Instead of implementing one of many possible positive solutions, such as working with the midwife and the couple to soothe concerns about doing the phototherapy in the hospital, or agreeing to give the home care a day or two with updates from the midwife, the doctor had Social Services sent to the home for a “wellness check.” This couple is black, and this kind of thing happens all too often to black families. So feeling threatened, the couple denied entry to their home to Social Services. Good for them. But soon after, their baby was removed from the mother’s arms.
This is not health care. Removing a baby from its parents is a last resort for extreme cases after every rock has been looked under. This situation is fraught with aggressiveness toward a young family and Western medicine’s all too familiar and unnecessary impatience, arrogance, and egotistical solution to problems encountered.
But I digress. Unhealthy healthcare practices are an additional topic to get into at another time.
The current opinion rolling around is that the pediatrician who requested the removal of the baby from her parents is acting out of retaliation because the parents employed their midwife to oversee the jaundice protocol care at home — instead of doing the protocol with him. I believe that. However, I suspect bias against home birth is the actual issue here.
I understand it well. I’ve had that shade thrown at me throughout the years.
I HAD THREE HOMEBIRTHS — two of them illegal because midwifery and homebirths were illegal in California in the 1980s. Luckily, two doctors were willing to work with my midwives “under the table,” so to speak, to cover the legalities. These two doctors supported a mother’s right to have the birthing experience she desires and greatly respected my midwives’ training, abilities, and track records. I was lucky to have these guys on my side.
They took a legal risk but wanted the system to change too. In addition, I’m a white woman who lived in an affluent section of the California coast at the time. Don’t think for a second that didn’t buy me treatment that mothers in other areas of the country don’t receive
Still, that benefit didn’t buy me respect from the larger Western medical community. It’s not exactly a system that considers pregnancy and birthing sacred experiences, recognizing the importance of honoring the woman going thru the experience. That’s seen as a bit woo-woo, and homebirth is usually considered stupid and dangerous instead of the comforting environment needed when a woman needs to stay focused and call upon every ounce of empowerment she can muster.
Even so, my homebirth years were slightly kinder and much more reasonable than current conditions. Without incident, our two babies and I, after each of those births, received post-birth care at home from our midwives and local clinic nurse. A whole list of possibilities can go wonky for a newborn, but many of those things can be best dealt with safely in the comfort of the home thru breastfeeding and other doable protocols. Midwives are there to identify problems and will take immediate action if more is needed. Midwives are patient and kind teachers who know how to calm parents with newborns.
Doctors, midwives, and families can — and should be on the same team.
Since the beginning of human existence, cycle care, pregnancy care, birthing care, and baby feeding/breastmilk care have thrived most when the female is respected as the final decision-maker after being given the facts, options, and assurance about her concerns. She is the one to whom all these experiences and responsibilities exist.
Politicians, government, voters, and religious conservatives are often careless and cruel toward females. They do not know best and often act against the woman’s and her family’s greater interest, especially if that family is of color.
Texas isn’t happy enough to legally own the bodies and futures of reproductive-age females.
Texas believes it also owns all things motherhood.
Texas is mistaken.’
Give this child back NOW.
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#justiceformilajackson
#bringmilahome
Resources:
*’Bring Mila home’: Supporters rally for North Texas parents whose baby was taken after a hospital…
Filtered sunlight a safe, low-tech treatment for newborn jaundice — Stanford Medicine Children’s…
** Protesters demand return of Black couple’s baby taken by Texas authorities after home birth
‘Bring Mila home’: Supporters rally for North Texas parents whose baby was taken after a hospital…
