The gentlebirth.org website is provided courtesy of
Ronnie Falcao, LM MS, a homebirth midwife in Mountain View, CA

Writing Letters to Caregivers About Your Birth Experience

I wonder if we might not get a swifter response to letters, especially if we have not been responded to in the initial letter, if we CC:'d a lawyer, the district attorney or the state licensing bureau?

I just wanted to add something to the messages about writing letters to the hospital, OB, etc. I did the exact thing you have all been suggesting, in very informed yet pleasant tones, since I started having questions about my c/s 8 months after it occurred. I had a few conversations with my CNMs (med-wives, I love that word, it's just right!) and then wrote a letter with other questions. I have written three letters total which have never been answered. Either these people are totally uncaring about how women are treated at their hospital and/or they are afraid to say anything to me because they know without a doubt they have no other excuses to make about my son's birth and they know that I know more than they do about what went wrong and what could have helped me.

I thought everyone's suggestions were good; but the fact is, sometimes people WILL NOT LISTEN TO YOU AND DO NOT CARE!!!!! I tried to correspond with the med-wives, who I thought really and truly cared about me, and they did, even through my postpartum from hell, but when I was well enough to start asking questions, then watch out honey!!!! So, I just wrote a letter and mailed ccs to admin and patient relations. I received a nicely worded letter asking for time to look into my complaints. I'm still going to be on guard because I've wasted enought time already trying to communicate with the med-wives and their backup OB. They're proably hoping lawsuit time will expire. Well, I hope it's true that it can't because they have been covering their tracks, deliberately lying to me and hiding that they're lying the entire time. Enough....just wanted to say letters are fine but sometimes you will get absolutely no response for your pains.

I think it's important to:

1. mail the letter via registered mail/return receipt
2. ask for a response within a specific time period