Politics and Tea

"When it's the data that rule, all things can be proposed, but are not all possible. When it's the fundamentals, all things can be understood, even when not observed." I read this quote in an article on the Mises.org website and found it well stated and profound. I would love to live my life by this pricinciple- that my fundamental knowledge would guide me rather than being swayed to and fro by whatever the current and fashionable data at hand. The relation is a bit of a stretch, but I may as well mention that last night I interviewed a midwife and after discussing it with Drew I have decided to hire her to deliver our child at home. I am very happy and at peace with this decision; a decision which is based on my deep-seated belief that birthing at home is normal and safe, because birth itself is normal and can be safe. I thank God for this opportunity to be an active participant in the birth of our second child, rather than being zoned-out and told to push. Righ...

Needless to say, neither ob in Danville will be a back up to my homebirth. So I took some advice from a friend and went somewhere that I knew would have resources on homebirth (I'm not telling where). So after a couple phone calls now I have a meeting scheduled tommorrow evening to interview a midwife. If I like her a lot, I'm gonna hire her and be an accomplice to her commiting a class 4 felony. If I do not like her, I will go ahead and use Medicaid and find an OB that will accept medicaid (not so easy) in Champaign. And forfeit all my principles about using Medicaid. And probably suffer from self-esteem issues for a while. But before I declare victory for the state of Illinois, I will interview my felon.

The Physician's License: An Achilles Heel? Henry Mark Holzer, J.D. Henry Mark Holzer, Professor of Law at Brooklyn Law School and a constitutional litigator, currently represents physician groups in Massachusetts and West Virginia. Reprinted from The Journal of Legal Medicine, Vol. 12, pp. 201 - 220, 1991, by permission of Hemisphere Publishing Corporation, a member of the Taylor and Frances Group. Introduction Greek legend tells of Achilles, foremost of the Trojan War heroes, who was brought down by an arrow that struck his one vulnerable spot. There is a modern-day parallel, making physicians practicing in the United States today vulnerable to the power of the government in a way that few have noticed. Through each state's abuse of the power over medical licenses, private physicians may be made virtual servants to state-perceived medical care needs. Today, those needs transcend caring simply for the elderly, indigent, and other customary beneficiaries of state-provided health...

So, I've decided it is a good idea to chronicle my journey of trying to set up a safe and legal homebirth . In Illinois, one must obtain a certified nurse midwife who is has a nearby collaborating doctor. Just a certified midwife won't do, as they are open to a lawsuit by the Illinois Department of Professional Regulation for practicing medicine without a licence . The problem with this is that doctors will not collaborate with certified nurse midwives who do homebirth . Well, even though that is the rumour, I tried to locate an ob/ gyn who I could at least try to convince. So I started calling the two ob/ gyn's in Danville , IL . Ob #1 does not do interviews. In fact, you do not get to see this physician unless you are actually in the process of pushing a baby out from between your legs. So, considering my goal, I crossed her name right off my list. Ob #2 requires registration with the facility before a message can get through to him. And then I am only able to talk ...