About
This event has been postponed due to the Covid-19 virus. We are hoping to reschedule it for the summer.
Join us for a lively talk and debate on the subject of pain
relief during childbirth. Hear from Dr Tania McIntosh, Principal
Lecturer, School of Health Sciences, University of Brighton and Professor Rachel
Collis, Obstetric Anaesthetist at University Hospital of Wales as they talk
about the ideas and beliefs about childbirth, pain, and pain relief,
historically and today.
Tania will delve into the history of midwifery practice to
explore how midwives have thought about and managed labour pain across the
centuries. Her talk will trace the impact of advances in
anaesthesia, and the surprising effects that these have had on the role and
status of the midwife. Finally it will explore why midwives can have such
a contradictory relationship with the use of pain relief for child birth.
Rachel will bring us up to the present day with a look at the Obstetric Anaesthetist's care of pregnant women. A frequent comment on routine reviews of women after labour is, "I would have died without my epidural." Of course no woman has ever died of pain during labour, but providing good pain relief during a painful procedure or event is a humanitarian act that is fundamental in modern medicine. So why therefore does providing safe effective pain relief for women who want it, remain so contentious?