The Significance of the Home Delivery Issue

Abstract

The controversy over domiciliary confinements occupies a central place in the general debate about present-day obstetric care. It has become the focus of increasing attention in both medical and lay circles, and we would be well advised not to underestimate its significance. The discussion over the validity or inadvisability of home confinements should not be seen as one just concerned with the merits or demerits of a particular form of obstetric treatment or management. Its importance lies in the fact that it touches on some of the most fundamental questions of medical practice, such as: How is the doctor to balance scientific objectivity with a sensitivity to the subjective feelings of his patient? How, in an increasingly technological age, can we ensure that scientific advances remain the servant rather than the master of the clinician? What are the mutual responsibilities inherent in the concept of the doctor-patient relationship? What role should the patient have in medical care decision making and how is this to be realised?