Scare Providers: You are Not serving women

Care Provider

There are care providers, and there are Scare Providers.

Scare Provider

Fearmongering. Scare Tactics. Bullying. These accusations are most commonly heard from birth professionals such as doulas and childbirth educators, as well as more natural-minded consumers, in reference to clinical maternity care providers - obstetricians, midwives, or nurses - who are pushing their clients toward increased interventions in pregnancy and birth, usually as a routine matter rather than in response to an actual risk.

The reality is that there are some situations in which greater care, higher responsibility, and increased intervention are needed in order to ensure the best outcome. This is why, at Balanced Birth Services, we are fond of saying:

Care Provider: an individual, such as a physician, nurse, social worker, or paraprofessional, who assists in the identification, prevention, or treatment of an illness or disability.

You may have read that definition and wanted to shout, "pregnancy is not an illness or a disability!" You are correct. In a normal, healthy, uncomplicated pregnancy and birth, the various types of care provided - clinical or otherwise - are more preventive in nature. If complications develop, they need to be identified, and may require treatment.

A good care provider will:

• treat you as an individual, and take into account your specific history and circumstances.
• answer any questions that you have honestly and completely.
• screen for and identify any circumstances that may require you to seek a different level or source of care, and make appropriate referrals when needed.
• be transparent about their processes, procedures, and scope of practice.
• ensure that you have all the information you need to make the right decision for your care.
• refer you to resources that can provide information and education outside of your time together.

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Just as there are signs of a good care provider, there are red flags that let us know when we might be dealing with a scare provider. A scare provider may:

• make emotional arguments rather than evidence-based ones.
• decline to answer questions thoroughly and honestly by "brushing you off" or giving vague answers.
• suggest treatment of a complication as preventive care.
• threaten to terminate your care without referrals to alternative sources if you do not comply.
• create doubt in your mind about anything outside their routine procedures.

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Visualize a scare provider in your mind. Was it Dr. Meanie? Nurse Ratchet? It is important to understand that not all scare providers are clinical. Women are scared into declining medical interventions that they actually need for their own health and safety, or that of their baby. Women are scared into "choosing" a homebirth when that may not be the right environment for them. Women are scared into one type of procedure by providers who create doubt about other types of procedures instead of merely focusing on the positive aspects of their own services. In every service provided - doctors, midwives, nurses, doulas, childbirth educators, placenta encapsulators, any you can think of - there are care providers, and there are scare providers.

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Scare providers damage mothers, babies, and families in ways that are sometimes very obvious, and sometimes very subtle. They create doubt in a time when women should be receiving the best care and support. They attack the confidence of women when they are at their most vulnerable. They rob women of the ability and opportunity to enter their parenting journey from a place of strength. Scare providers, regardless of how they market themselves, do not serve women. 

if you are a care provider - NOT a scare provider - apply to become a balanced birth services preferred provider!

This opportunity is open to all providers of goods and services who work with mothers, babies, and families in the Denver area, including Denver, Aurora, Littleton, Parker, and Castle Rock.