Good things a brewin

I haven’t had time to post recently. But, good things have been brewing, so I wanted to throw up some links.

First, a study finds homebirth as safe as hospital birth. Of course, this occurred in the Netherlands. I would love to practice there one day. An American DO needs to pave the way, since our licensing is ambiguous in that country. Note the complication rate was 7 per 1000. That includes NICU admission or any neonatal mortality.

Note that in the United States, our infant mortality rate alone is 7 in 1000.

Hillary Clinton gave a rousing defense of comprehensive international reproductive medicine. I still get misty when I hear our administration advocating for evidence based, women centered medicine that will save more lives of women and children.

Also good stuff, the FDA is going to be extending over the counter, non prescription status for plan B to 17 yr olds. It is safer than a pregnancy for all ages, children who can’t talk to their parents about it are high risk and should have more access. Unfortunately, proving your age requires ID. I think the requirement should be lifted because privacy outweighs the negligible risk. If a young woman is in a small town, she will be forced to show her license in order to get Plan B. We need mroe progress on this issue. Plan B needs to be available without a prescription, end of story.

The New England Journal of Medicine published a study on using PCR, a cheap DNA analysis is better than a pap smear when screening for cervical cancer. Very interesting. I may be doing some research on PCR testing for HPV during my research fellowship.

And, finally, Shakesville has been cracking me the hell up.