Patient Midwives

Twenty years of inspecting Philadelphia midwives have not staled Dr. William R. Nicholson's appreciation of their professional proficiency. On the other hand the same years have increased his displeasure with obstetricians who cannot keep women from dying in childbed. Philadelphia midwives delivered 95,151 women in the past 20 years and lost only 74, Dr. Nicholson told the Obstetrical Society of Philadelphia last week. During the past three years local obstetricians delivered 99,581 women, lost 717.

Philadelphia midwives are forbidden to use instruments to deliver babies. They must call a doctor when labor is difficult. Discounting those rules and averring that he did not prefer midwives to doctors, Dr. Nicholson chided obstetricians thus:

"The great crime of the physician is hurry. This results in a temptation to interfere constantly with the natural processes. The physicians need nothing from science that they do not now possess. What is needed is more care in the treatment of mothers and greater patience such as the midwife uses."

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