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  • 1 day ago
The Tasmanian government is developing a public homebirth model that would allow midwives working in the public system to support women to labour from their homes. Advocates say it will offer women wanting to birth outside of hospital greater choice. The Australian Medical Association says hospital is the safest place to give birth, and believes the focus needs to shift to improving the experience for women.

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00:00after a birth she found traumatic Alicia Chapman wanted to deliver her second child at home good
00:09job I guess a lot of people automatically say oh at least your baby's healthy at the end of
00:15it but there's also a whole other human being that also matters she wanted support from a
00:20midwife but couldn't access one so she prepared to give birth without assistance from a health
00:26professional a practice that has health groups alarmed free birth has been linked to deaths
00:31including that of a Melbourne woman in September after complications were flagged during a hospital
00:37appointment Ms Chapman decided to labor in hospital the state government is developing a public home
00:45birth service allowing public midwives to work from women's homes and bringing Tasmania in line
00:52with the rest of Australia easing pressure on private midwives it's kept me awake at night if
00:58I have to say no to women especially if I hear rumors that she might be free birthing publicly funded home
01:05birth is not radical it's responsible it's evidence-based and it's time to trust women but
01:11the Australian Medical Association is alarmed when there's a medical emergency that involves a mother
01:18and a baby you have two lives at risk and you've got often within 10 minutes to deliver that baby
01:23the AMA instead wants to focus on improving the hospital experience that could involve a compassionate
01:30process after birth unpacking whether any trauma was preventable or due to urgent intervention and
01:37helping a mother make sense of it
01:39yeah but Alicia hopes a public home birth offering will empower women
01:45I still long for that um that birth experience I guess
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