Cameras in the delivery room

I once subjected several of my non-mommy friends to watching the video of my daughter being born. I find these videos incredible moving and fascinating, but I could tell by my friends’ blanched faces that they find them, well, disgusting. One friend simply kept muttering, “I just…I just don’t understand what I’m looking at. That can’t be right. Seriously. What is that?”

So I’ve stopped having regular showings of this video, but I’m so glad that I have the moment my daughter entered this world caught on tape. I also have about 100 photos of her arrival.

An article in the New York Times this week says more hospitals are banning the use of camera equipment in delivery rooms, and many moms are not happy about it.

If cameras are making it hard for a doctor to do his or her job in delivering a baby, then I definitely agree doctors should be able to banish whomever and whatever is causing a distraction in the delivery room. If I were on the table, I’d much rather have a safe delivery than video footage.

But if doctors are banning video cameras and photographs simply to cover their own mistakes, that is just cowardly. Some doctors are worried their missteps will be caught on tape and patients will use home videos as courtroom evidence to win millions.

I can’t blame doctors for wanting to protect themselves (or being gun shy from frivolous lawsuits), but I would be pretty upset if I didn’t have those photos of my daughter’s birth because a doctor doesn’t want to be held accountable for what happens.

What do you think – should cameras be allowed in the delivery room? Did you take pictures or video of your children’s births?

Erin Stewart is a regular blogger for Deseret News. From stretch marks to the latest news for moms, Stewart discusses it all while her 3-year-old daughter crams Mr. Potato Head pieces in her little sister’s nose.