Parents & Kids

Inappropriate requests bombard physicians constantly. And identifying honorable ones from the more nefarious diverts substantial time away from patient care.
With childbirth, the stakes are too high to add a risk factor or another hurdle. A healthy mom and healthy baby should be the goal of any delivery.
The adverse effects on patient safety from poor hospital scheduling and staffing are well known. This occurs when there's a shortage of experienced physicians and health professionals at work during non-standard hours. Maternal health is the latest focus.
The fact that Ethan Lindenberger is over 18 years of age cannot be glossed over here. When dealing with minors -- which this teen by legal definition is not -- the terrain can get murky.  
Hearts don’t open and minds don’t change when you yell at people. Or berate them. Or chastise them. Not with vaccination, or any other medical intervention.
Though Hollywood features can be quite dramatic, the real thing can provide much more entertainment.
With women opting for "free birth" or "unassisted birth" the stakes are only getting higher. Dismissing medical advice is also taking the form of a misguided practice of prolonging delivery well beyond due dates.
For some expectant mothers, there's a strong desire to have less "medicalization" of labor and delivery. It manifests itself in home births and water births for those adamantly opposed to a hospital setting. Now, “unassisted birth” goes a step further excluding a trained professional from the delivery. It's time to clarify the risks.
Dismissing this encounter as that of another entitled teen ignores a major societal problem that needs fixing.
Accidental or intentional trauma from foreign bodies represents a large chunk of the preventable injury health care burden. That's not only costly in monetary terms, but also in degrees of anguish and unnecessary suffering. Though the items and circumstances vary, no age is spared.
The knowledge of a baby being big or small is just data, not meaningful information. Context is key.
Branding normal phases of development and transitions have become a thing, mainly to sell books more than identify any new discovery. That said, the first three months of a baby’s life after birth and mom’s postpartum period is a rather unique time for many reasons.