Peggy Vincent, Baby Catcher: Chronicles of a Modern Midwife

Peggy Vincent's charming, quirky tales of natural childbirth in the Bay area come to a screeching halt on page 233, in the chapter "wrongful life". Until then, the voices of hundreds of women leapt from the pages, but in the first two paragraphs of this chapter it is evident that we are not going to hear another woman's voice, we are just going to hear Peggy's, and her tone is ultimately not going to be sympathetic. Vincent's negative portrayal of her client and indignation with her client's betrayal is completely understandable and forgivable -- until she goes on to insult other women whose cases she is completely unfamiliar with, suggesting that most women who pursue a medical malpractice lawsuit are reacting to their grief by blaming their doctors and caregivers for "bad luck", instead of agonizing over whether or not a standard of care was breeched, and said breech caused bad outcome. In reality, there is no evidence in "Babycatcher" to suggest Vincent has any knowledge of the very complicated reasons of why women pursue obstetrical lawsuits. It does not appear that she personally spoke with any such women, least of all the one that she calls "Patty Wilson"............. Chillingly telling is the complete lack of narrative that would describe compassion and support Vincent or the OB doc gave to the devastated patient and her husband after their son's birth and "failed" discontinuation of life support, the one major scene revolving around the patient's reaction to her son's outcome took place in a hospital lobby by chance encounter, and it did not include any comfort offered either the doctor or midwife. Because I know this doctor in "real life", I would bet my next paycheck that his post-delivery care included more time and support than this book would suggest, however, Peggy VIncent leaving these details out of her narrative is a testament to part of the complicated reasons women in this situation take the legal course..........abandonment, and lack of support........ In a broader sense, outside this particular lawsuit, it is a little disturbing to see how Vincent can acknowledge that OB docs can be self serving and that some of their actions can lead to damage, but can't make the leap that some of their actions or inactions can cause harm to a baby, which causes OB to distance himself from the patient and ultimately a legitimate lawsuit. It should not be a leap for her to see how said OB might not document the delivery accurately, and seen from this angle, (remember, the patient does not get to legally document her observations) how many lawsuits may seem to be without merit. I strongly encourage Vincent to talk to some of these women before she makes such damaging and sweeping statements (such as lawsuits not being about professional responsibility but are an excuse to give money to someone with a tragic obstetrical outcome) in a best seller............. In addition, we have a cringe worthy chapter on "spirit babies" where in Vincent suggests that miscarried and stillborn babies' spirits are given another chance to be born, all you have to do is get pregnant again, and your lost baby will come back to you.......parents of stillborn infants have a hard enough time convincing others they lost a child, not a pregnancy, and their grief is not going to be fixed by just having another child without this kind of nonsense. She even goes as far as to push this belief off on a client with a stillborn child. The client responds by giving Vincent a "spirit doll", and Vincent is STILL clueless. To be fair, the book does a great job advancing midwifery, births with no medical intervention, and time after time, shows us the beauty of a home birth. But those gains are offset by the damage she does by encouraging the "just get pregnant again" pressure that bereaved parents suffer, as well as her global lack of empathy for women suffering through obstetrical lawsuits.