Blaming Aristotle: The doctor and 'failure of his art'

Pregnant women: For simple instructions on how to allow your birth canal to
open an "extra" up to 30%, see the very end of this post.


BLAMING ARISTOTLE:

THE DOCTOR AND "FAILURE OF HIS ART"...

"[T]he doctor in the graeco-Roman world...shunned death as a failure of his
art. Sometimes [though] a doctor was called in to assist in voluntary
death, a role that was not forbidden by the Hippocratic oath. An appeal to
this oath by opponents of euthanasia in the modern sense of the word
therefore is mistaken."
--Prof. Anton J. Van Hoof. Soc Sci Med. 2004 Mar;58(5):975-85. PubMed
abstract

OPEN LETTER

Prof. Anton J. Van Hoof
Department of Ancient History
Nijmegen University
Erasmusplein 1, room
10.05, NL-6525HT
Nijmegen, The Netherlands.


Anton,

You say, the ancient doctor "shunned death as a failure of his art" and
occasionally assisted in "voluntary death."

When *we* are history - ancient history - people will read:

The ancient doctor shunned the failure of his art and as a consequence
occasionally assisted in INvoluntary death.

Ancient doctors knowingly closed birth canals up to 30%.

Most babies "only" had their spines gruesomely wrenched, but some babies
died - some were paralyzed.

Ancient doctors shunned ADMITTING the failure of their art - they failed to
stop closing birth canals up to 30%.

Ancient doctors reportedly got their birth-canal-closing habit from previous
ancients...

The French doctor Francois Mauriceau (1637-1709) apparently plagiarized the
idea of semisitting delivery (closing the birth canal) from Aristotle.
[Dunn PM. Francois Mauriceau (1637-1709) and maternal posture for
parturition. Arch Dis Child 1991;66:78-9.]

Anton, let us not wait until we are ancient history to stop this grisly
obstetric tomfoolery.

Sincerely,

Todd

Dr. Gastaldo


PS PROOF that OBs and CNMwives are routinely closing birth canals up to
30%...

That semisitting and dorsal close the birth canal is simple biomechanics.

See Gastaldo TD. Letter. Birth 1992;19(4):230.

The 30% figure comes from the medical literature...

Jason Gardosi, MD, director of the British National Health
Service/NHS West Midlands Perinatal
Institute/WMPI states the grisly biomechanics of the semirecumbent
delivery position (semisitting):

"...the weight of the mother is in part taken on the sacrum which is
therefore pushed upwards, thus decreasing the antero-posterior diameter of
the pelvic outlet..."
http://www.wmpi.net/reviews/oe/oe_shoulder_dystocia.htm

The funny thing is, Jason Gardosi, MD also *recommends* semisitting (closing
the birth canal) - or used to!

"The second stage...You might want to remain in bed with your back propped
up with pillows...As you push, try to let yourself 'open up' below..."
http://www.preg.info/book/chapter11.htm

NOTE: Jason Gardosi, MD and his fellow British OB pal Malcolm Griffiths once
got me censored from an international OB/GYN listserv - but fortunately not
before two of my posts were archived thereon:
http://forums.obgyn.net/forums/ob-gy...9707/0128.html
http://forums.obgyn.net/ob-gyn-l/OBGYNL.9707/0153.html

Anyone interested in some entertaining obstetric reading, check out Jason's
1989 Lancet "randomised controlled trial of squatting" - where nobody
squatted...

See Sarah Key's huge balls (also: Kids can SQUAT motionless for hours)...
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/chiro-list/message/2084

MORE PROOF According to the Merck Manual:

"When shoulder dystocia occurs...the mother's thighs are hyperflexed to
increase the diameter of the pelvic outlet..."
http://www.merck.com/mrkshared/mmanu...er253/253g.jsp

WHY are OBs and CNMwives (nurse midwives) waiting until the
head is
out and shoulders get stuck before giving the baby maximum pelvic outlet
diameter?

WHY are OBs and CNMwives forcing babies' heads through birth canals
senselessly closed up to 30%?
WHY are OBs and CNMwives KEEPING birth canals closed when babies' shoulders
get stuck?

(Merely hyperflexing the thighs does NOT get the woman off her sacrum. This
is BAD McRoberts maneuver. ON A POSITIVE NOTE: Gardosi et al.'s WMPI site
(quoted above) recommends a version of GOOD McRoberts
if the shoulders get stuck...
http://www.wmpi.net/reviews/oe/oe_shoulder_dystocia.htm)

LADIES: HELP PROTECT YOUR VAGINAS...

OBs and CNMwives are slicing vaginas (euphemism "routine episiotomy") -
surgically/FRAUDULENTLY inferring everything possible is being done to OPEN
birth canals - even as they CLOSE birth canals - up to 30%!

See Criminal medical CAM at Hawai'i's John A Burns School of
Medicine
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group...t/message/2256

WEIRD: In 1993, the authors of Williams Obstetrics published the correct
biomechanics at my request but they left in their text (in the same
paragraph!) the "dorsal widens" bald lie that first called my attention to
their text.

The "dorsal widens" bald lie was created when Ohlsen informed the authors of
Williams Obstetrics in 1973 that they were still claiming that the pelvic
diameters *don't change* at delivery!

ALSO WEIRD: Before Ohlsen stimulated their "dorsal widens" bald lie, the
authors of Williams Obstetrics were ignoring Borell and Fernstrom's 1957
RADIOGRAPHIC demonstration that the diameters DO change - and this MANY
years after (way back in 1911) J. Whitridge Williams, MD - the first author
of Williams Obstetrics - clinically demonstrated 4cm of AP outlet diameter
change!

For details: See my Open Letter to FTC at:
http://home1.gte.net/gastaldo/part2ftc.html


SIMPLE INSTRUCTIONS

PREGNANT WOMEN: It is EASY for you to allow your birth canal to OPEN the
"extra" up
to 30%.
Just roll onto your side as you push your baby out - or deliver on
hands-and-knees, kneeling, standing, squatting, etc.

BUT BEWA "Midwives...encourage...semisitting." (closing the birth canal!)
--Yale CNMwifery Prof. Helen Varney. Varney's Midwifery. Sudbury, MA: Jones
and Bartlett. 4th ed. 2004:839]

Some MDs and MBs will let you "try" "alternative"
delivery positions but will move you back to dorsal or semisitting (close
your birth canal!) as you push your baby out!

If your baby's shoulders get stuck OBs and CNMwives will KEEP your birth
canal closed!

Yale CNMwifery Prof. Varney (just cited) writes:

"In the event of...shoulder dystocia...the woman should be
in a lithotomy position..." (p. 839)

Lithotomy position keeps the birth canal closed! So does semisitting!

Talk to your CNMwife or MD or MB about this TODAY. (For further details see
"Criminal medical CAM," URL above.)

CNMwives/MDs/MBs: If you must push or pull - and sometimes you must - first
get the
woman off her sacrum - off her back/butt.

SIMPLE INSTRUCTIONS

PREGNANT WOMEN: It is EASY for you to allow your birth canal to OPEN the
"extra" up
to 30%.
Just roll onto your side as you push your baby out - or deliver on
hands-and-knees, kneeling, standing, squatting, etc.

But BEWARE...

Some MDs and MBs will let you "try" "alternative"
delivery positions but will move you back to dorsal or semisitting (close
your birth canal!) as you push your baby out!

If your baby's shoulders get stuck OBs and CNMwives will KEEP your birth
canal closed!

See above.

Thanks for reading everyone.

Sincerely,

Todd

Dr. Gastaldo