Born in the USA:

How a Broken Maternity System Must Be Fixed

to Put Women and Children First

     Marsden Wagner, M.D., M.S.

University of California Press, Berkeley, 2007

     In this rare, behind-the-scenes look at what goes on in hospitals across the U.S. , a longtime medical insider and international authority on childbirth assesses the flawed American maternity care system, powerfully demonstrating how it fails to deliver safe, effective care for both mothers and babies. Written for mothers and fathers, midwives, obstetricians, nurses, scientists, insurance professionals, and anyone contemplating having a child, this passionate exposé documents how, in the most expensive maternity care system in the world, women have lost control over childbirth and what the disturbing results of this phenomenon have been. 

     Born in the USA examines issues including midwifery, the safety of out-of-hospital birth, how the process of becoming a doctor can adversely affect both practitioners and their patients, why there has been a rise in the use of risky but doctor-friendly interventions including induction of labor with drugs such as Cytotec (a drug not approved by the FDA for pregnant women) and cesarean section---major abdominal surgery which increases the chance that the woman will die or be damaged and increases the chance the baby will die or be damaged. 

     Born in the USA tells: why women are 70% more likely to die in childbirth in America than in Europe; what motivates obstetricians to use dangerous and unnecessary drugs and procedures; how the present malpractice crisis has been aggravated by doctor’s fear of accountability; why procedures such as cesarean section and birth inductions are so readily used.

     Most importantly, this gripping investigation, supported by many troubling personal stories, explores how women can reclaim the childbirth experience for the betterment of themselves and their children.

"Dr. Wagner depicts the state of obstetrical care in the United States with clarity and accuracy. He is clearly an 'insider' who has the courage to tell the truth about how our love affair with birth technology adversely affects both mothers and babies.  Importantly, he outlines a path towards much needed change.  Born in the USA should be must reading not only for all pregnant women, but also for all ob/gyn physicians, hospital personnel, and those who make public policy.  Dr Wagner has done all of us a great service with this book."

—Christiane Northrup, M.D., author of Women’s Bodies, Women’s Wisdom