Homework 38- book response 1

The book, born in the USA, is organized so that the book is divided into chapters. Each chapter has a new main idea. The chapters are organized where  main ideas are presented at The beginning of the chapter, and as the chapter progresses there are details about the main idea. 
As a side note: at the start of every chapter there are quotes related to birth. What I find interesting is that Wagner includes quotes from a variety of people, authors, actors, ect. 

The main question that this book is trying to answer is "what is birth like in America?" The way Marsden Wagner answers this question in the book is good. First discussing the medical standard for birth, the c-section vs. Natural birth, midwifery. Each chapter goes into a different aspect of birth in America. But the problem in some of the writing is that instead of trying to answer "what is birth like in America?" he's  answering "what are the flaws in the birth system?" which may just be another main question he's trying to answer. 
  The main insight that the book is trying to get across in the first 100 pages is that birth isn't done in done in one way. I believe that he does a good job displaying this insight in the book. I like how he doesn't jump focus between the different ways, but still covers them. This is another aspect of the book where the bias against the doctoral system can be seen. 

One interesting thing that the book explains is that there is this unwritten code between doctors, a code basically saying even when a doctor is wrong, they are right. Another interesting aspect is that midwives are very educated but doctors don't take them seriously. A point that is stressed in the book is that in low risk births, the amount of babies dying is higher with doctors then midwives. Usually OB interventions are more hurtful then helpful. 

Marsden Wagner uses a variety of sources. He uses statistics from studies, peoples personal stories, and his experiences. I think all the evidence he is using is truthful, it's just biased. Like the first story he told in the book was about a woman that almost died because of a possibly avoidable operation. I'm sure that story is true, but it makes it seem like that happening all the time, which it could be but the percentage of births affected by it isn't significant enough to show. His personal stories are very insightful, because he's a doctor himself and it gives you an inside view of this whole other "doctor world". All the information that has been presented toe in this book seems credible and relevant. I think this book has a lot of insightful information that is helping me learn what birth is like around me.