Story Published:
Mar 20, 2005 at 10:36 PM PDT
Story Updated:
Aug 31, 2006 at 1:53 AM PDT
SEATTLE - John C. Nelson admits that he gets a little
teary-eyed every time he sees the videotape of a close friend's
child being born by Caesarean section.
But don't expect Nelson - an obstetrician and president of the
American Medical Association - to allow any of his patients to
capture all the same heartfelt and life-changing moments on
videotape. Like other doctors around the country, Nelson said
increasing fears that those family videotapes could one day be used
in a lawsuit led him to start asking parents to limit camera use
during some of their infant's first moments.
"What once used to be really fun and warm and cozy and so forth
is now a potential nail in the coffin from a liability
perspective," said Nelson, who practices in Salt Lake City and
delivered babies until 2003.
The medical association doesn't offer specific guidelines on
personal videotaping of deliveries, but Nelson said ongoing
concerns about medical liability has many doctors and hospitals at
least cutting back on what they will allow. He said he began
restricting mom and dad's videotaping after the medical center he
practiced in, LDS Hospital, started urging limitations.
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists
recommends that its members discuss what limitations there may be
on filming the birth during a patient's prenatal visits, so there
are no surprises in the delivery room, said Larry Veltman, chair of
the committee on professional liability. While doctors' preferences
still vary, he said, "Certainly the tendency is to move toward
less and less ability to videotape."
In his own practice in Portland, Ore., Veltman allows some
videotaping and photography, as long as the family has oral
permission from everyone in the room and agrees to turn off the
camera in an emergency. He says some doctors also may let the
family videotape the baby right after delivery, but not the
delivery itself, while others may be even more restrictive.
Nelson concedes that it can be difficult to tell excited,
expectant parents that they will not be able to capture baby's
first scream, or mom's hard work, on film. But he said many doctors
are to the point that they worry less about hurting a patient's
feelings than about the potential for liability in the heat of an
emergency.
"The doctor wants to be concerned about the clinical issue in
front of him, and not have to worry about how it's going to play on
TV," Nelson said.
Others argue, however, that that is exactly how doctors should
be thinking when they deliver a baby or perform another medical
procedure.
"If doctors were concerned about liability and frivolous
lawsuits, they should welcome videotapes," said David Beninger, a
lawyer with Seattle-based Luvera Law Firm. "A videotape proves
what happens and when it happens. There's no more reliance on faded
memories."
Beninger said he thinks most people want to record a child's
birth for the memories, not the evidence - but argues those tapes
can also come in handy if there is a dispute.
He and his client, Dylan Malone, relied on a personal videotape
in a case involving Malone's son, Ian, who was born in 1999 and
died last May of pneumonia, a result of complications related to
his birth.
The family eventually reached a $2 million settlement with
Cascade Midwives and Birth Center in Everett. Malone said that was
largely because medical records inaccurately portrayed Ian as
healthy throughout the birth while the videotape showed dire
complications. The medical center declined to comment.
Some health-care providers say filming limitations have been
spurred by hospitals. Tim Clarke, spokesman for the American
College of Nurse-Midwives, said many midwives have no problem with
cameras in the delivery room but are feeling pressure from the
hospitals they practice in to limit their use.
Alicia Mitchell, a spokeswoman for the American Hospital
Association, said some hospitals have come up with formal policies,
but many simply urge the patient to work with the physician and
other medical personnel on setting guidelines.
For around two years, Swedish Medical Center in Seattle has
required patients to get verbal consent from all medical workers
present before being allowed to film or take pictures during
births. Patients and family members are also forbidden from
capturing some procedures, such as administration of anesthesia.
Although videotaping cutbacks stem from lawsuit concerns,
Veltman said he hasn't heard of insurance companies pushing doctors
to stop videotaping. Gary Morse, general counsel with Seattle-based
Physicians Insurance a Mutual Company, said the issue was discussed
somewhat by insurers in the 1980s, when home video cameras began
appearing, but his company hasn't dealt with it since.
After his son's birth, Malone became a staunch proponent of
allowing videotapes in delivery rooms. But when his own second
child, Molly, was born in a different hospital, the Malones tried
to create an experience exactly opposite of their son's birth - and
that included ditching the video camera.
"I didn't even ask about their policies," Malone said. "I
wanted a very different birth."
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