High-Tech Births
Dec. 8th, 2003 08:25 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
primroseburrowsFrom Reuters:
Defense Software Could Make Births Safer -Report
(2003-12-03)
LONDON (Reuters) - British scientists have incorporated defense software used to pick up targets on military radar into a new painless technique that detects problems during labor and could lead to safer births.
The electrocardiogram (ECG) trace developed by the defense research company QinetiQ can record an electrical signal from the heart and indicates if the baby is not getting enough oxygen or has an irregular heartbeat, a science magazine reported.
It can also detect the strength of the mother's contractions, which shows how the labor is progressing.
"The non-invasive system records signals from 12 electrodes on the mother's abdomen, separating out useful components from background noise from muscles other than the heart or interference from electrical equipment," New Scientist magazine said on Wednesday.
Doctors at the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital in southwestern England who are testing the device believe it will help to detect early problems during the delivery and help to rule out unnecessary Caesarean deliveries.
A technique called cardiotocography (CTG) is already used during labor but it is not as accurate as the ECG.
"The researchers also found they could measure the mother's contractions directly, using the electrical signals from the muscles," the magazine added.
© Copyright 2003, Reuters
Um. I think this could be useful in very, very high risk birth situations. In normal, low risk situations, however, it's just another way of making chilbirth into an illness, of stealing power from women AGAIN. How much do you want to bet that millions of women will insist on it without question?
Defense Software Could Make Births Safer -Report
(2003-12-03)
LONDON (Reuters) - British scientists have incorporated defense software used to pick up targets on military radar into a new painless technique that detects problems during labor and could lead to safer births.
The electrocardiogram (ECG) trace developed by the defense research company QinetiQ can record an electrical signal from the heart and indicates if the baby is not getting enough oxygen or has an irregular heartbeat, a science magazine reported.
It can also detect the strength of the mother's contractions, which shows how the labor is progressing.
"The non-invasive system records signals from 12 electrodes on the mother's abdomen, separating out useful components from background noise from muscles other than the heart or interference from electrical equipment," New Scientist magazine said on Wednesday.
Doctors at the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital in southwestern England who are testing the device believe it will help to detect early problems during the delivery and help to rule out unnecessary Caesarean deliveries.
A technique called cardiotocography (CTG) is already used during labor but it is not as accurate as the ECG.
"The researchers also found they could measure the mother's contractions directly, using the electrical signals from the muscles," the magazine added.
© Copyright 2003, Reuters
Um. I think this could be useful in very, very high risk birth situations. In normal, low risk situations, however, it's just another way of making chilbirth into an illness, of stealing power from women AGAIN. How much do you want to bet that millions of women will insist on it without question?
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(no subject)
Date: 2003-12-08 06:49 am (UTC)I think high-tech stuff is great when it's needed, and I'm really glad that it's there. But the hospitals that hook you to an IV "just in case" they need to give you something (and "something" is usually an invasive epidural), then stick you on a fetal monitor, where you can watch the strips to see your contractions (gods forbid you should actually feel them!), then comes more and more monitoring for tiny fluctuations in the readings, and BAM! You're off to see the Caesarian Wizard. Or maybe low forceps or a Vacuum Extractor, or maybe an internal monitor (where they screw an electrode into the baby's scalp!), or at the very least a Great Big Episiotomy.
I guess you can say, at least it's non-invasive.
Yeah, but even non-invasive stuff keeps women confined to their bed because of electrodes, etc. And once the tiniest off-reading is seen, the Technology Machine will start rolling, and then you're in for invasive stuff, big time.