Midwifery

This title covers a range of clinical, legal, ethical and professional issues and is written by leaders in these areas. It has been produced for midwives and student midwives who want to be at the forefront of their profession, but it makes absorbing reading for anyone interested in the way childbirth is managed. Readers are confronted by professional controversy, share with clinicians in the process of improving practice, and explore new theories developed by midwife researchers to inform practice. What effects do technology and legal liability have on childbirth? What ethical issues arise? What choices do women have, and is birth approached as a natural phenomenon, or as a medical problem? How has breast-feeding been influenced by medical fashions and trends? How can midwives and other carers help a mother whose baby is stillborn cope with her loss, and how is post-natal care faring in Australia? This book assembles the knowledge of a dozen practising midwives who are leaders in their fields and who, together, combine decades of wisdom and of experience.