From yesterday's post/comments...I appreciate discussion.
But I think I didn't state my point very well.
This is not a NEW research conclusion. Being poor leads to poor medical care. There are similar statistics on treatment of cancer and terminal illnesses. I get it. It's a damn shame, but I do see possible solutions on the horizon.
Why is it that every "study" of stillbirth seems based on the premise of acceptable loss? You and you and you...you lost your babies to medical neglect. You and you and you...we have no idea why you lost your babies. Neither one is acceptable to me. And they are both the result of medical research being subject to capitalism.
Why isn't stillbirth studied in the same way as cancer or parkinsons or alzheimers? I understand the need to eliminate social causes for stillbirth...I do. I think it is an embarassment to our humanity that someone should suffer because they lack dollars. And numbers are nice so you can get a big picture and see where the dollars need to be spent...but really...this is not a new big picture.
My question is...where is the SCIENCE? I'm simply not willing to tell ANY mother that "sometimes these things just happen...you're just one of the unlucky few it's going to happen to this year." If you ask me..."You lost your baby because we're too busy putting our medical research dollars into a pill that will give a man an erection and couldn't be bothered to research the medical reasons for stillbirth" isn't too far from..."You lost your baby because of medical neglect."
My concern is that everybody is talking money and nobody can even venture a guess as to how bacteria invaded my uterus and killed my baby boy.
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I'm one of those in the "who the hell knows why" category. It is seriously enraging that there is more money for erection research than for finding out why babies die in the womb. My doctor gave me the whole "these things just happen" speech after Lydia died. Well, erectile dysfunction "just happens", too, but no one gives that lame platitude to all of the limp-dicks out there... Grrrrrr!!!! Is there any hope? I don't know. Obviously, it's largely about money. I guess we could all band together and start figuring out how to get the ball rolling. I just don't know where to begin...
I agree with what you are saying... I guess my initial thought was that separating out the two categories would provide evidence that there are two different medical actions that need to take place. (And they should take place at the same time.)
We need to both: reduce/eliminate stillbirth that is related to economic issues/lack of medical access/language issues/etc AND figure out the causes of and ways to prevent the 'it just happens sometimes' types of stillbirths.
I agree Catherine. It drives me crazy that so many pregnancy losses are written off as "nothing."
Someone asked me recently if I thought the problem was because caring about PL might open up the debate about when life begins. And all I could think of is, "I'm alive! Don't I count?" I'm a real live woman who would like proper medical treatment and respect and dignity.
But somehow, women don't count, I guess.
Gahhhhh....
Yeah, i totally agree!
(Ok, not that i am doing anything about it, sigh...)
Of course it is neglect. The entire issue is neglected and the answers you got aren't any different to the answers ANY other women whose babies' deaths were put down to being 'one of those things'. Some neglect is quicker to fix, not any more or less neglected though. It *is* all about money and it is equally shameful that adequate money isn't given to ALL causes of stillbirth. It's not like there is a shortage of it if there is the political will to spend it.
How are we supposed to make it an issue though? To get the attention the right to life advocates get, few mothers are going to make placards out of their precious child's image no matter how important the cause. How do we get the attention that gets the money which will find the answers?
I go with 'quiet resistance'. I refuse to get all excited over new pregnancies, I refuse to entertain the happy ever after for anyone's sake (yeah, what a miserable bitch I am, hasn't she got over that miscarriage yet? It was only a blob after all...) and I talk about dead babies no matter how much people squirm. It's not much, but it's a small stand.
If we can kill bacteria in petrie dishes, we can find a way to kill it in utero. Like your point really was, if we can stop spending money on these studies that state the obvious, maybe we can get some research done that actually matters.
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