You entrust your life with your doctor. When you go while you’re feeling sick, or if you suffer an injury, or if need emergency care, that doctor and those medical personnel figuratively and, sometimes literally, have your life in their hands. When it comes to a pregnant woman, the obstetricians and other medical personnel involved aren’t just looking out for one patient. They need to ensure that the mother and her unborn child get through their nine months as healthy as possible.
But a new study doesn’t make this seem like the reality. According to the study, many obstetricians avoid talking about tricky environmental risks that could harm the pregnant woman and/or her unborn child.
The examples that are given in our source article talk about certain heavy metals, pesticides and other dangerous solvents that could affect pregnancy and the birth of a child. These factors are rarely approached in discussions by obstetricians with their pregnant patients. The study found that 78 percent of the obstetricians participating in the study thought that counseling on these factors would be helpful for the pregnant women — and yet less than 20 percent of the obstetricians surveyed admitted to talking about these factors with their patients.
Even though these factors are clearly dangerous — obviously a pregnant woman should avoid being around pesticides — there are probably sources of these materials that pregnant woman may not know about that they should avoid. Or there could be other obscure materials or elements that carry potential risks for pregnant woman. Obstetricians should be doing everything they can to ensure a healthy pregnancy for their patients.
Source: NPR, “Few Doctors Warn Expectant Mothers About Environmental Hazards,” Kara Manke, June 25, 2014
