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From: Carolyn Roth <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Wed, October 27, 2010 10:37:38 AM
Subject: Re: MIDWIFERY-RESEARCH Digest - 24 Oct 2010 to 25 Oct 2010 (#2010-177)

Dear Marianne, You are right when you say there are many layers to the situation of Agnes Gereb.

You say:

"Agnes Gereb's name has been removed from the medical register - most probably because other colleagues have had the power to remove the name of someone who was clearly not in agreement with the general position in Hungary.  This is highly regrettable and the cause of reinstating her to the medical register is one I would strongly support."

However, you call to withhold support from her when she is facing additional draconian penalties and treatment apparently arising from being prohibited by certain authorities to maintain her registration. There is a contradiction in what you say and it is more than 'regrettable', it is surely something that all those concerned with the care of childbearing women should be concerned about.    I also wonder whether the midwives' association tried to defend her right to be registered?

When someone becomes the target of this kind of procedure, it is really not possible to split off different bits of the issue to support or not support.  If the action against Agnes Gereb is successful my guess is that it will increase the capacity of the state to prohibit women's choice, because the penalties for protecting women's choice will have be strengthened by a successful prosecution of Agnes Gereb.  It worries me that the midwives' association perceive her as a factor in the state's decision regarding home birth. It seems to me that the state may well use her as an excuse for intransigence, but not supporting her at this time in effect allows them to do that.

Clearly, it is also important to maintain regulation of practice, but it seems to me that in this case regulation has been applied not in the interests of the public, but rather to prohibitapproaches to women's care that powerful professions do not approve of.

Carolyn Roth
Lead Midwife for Education
Keele University, School of Nursing&  Midwifery
Clinical Education Centre
Newcastle Road
Stoke on Trent
ST4 6QG, UK

Tel. 01782 556698



On 26/10/2010 19:06, Marianne Mead wrote:
> Agnes Gereb's name has been removed from the medical register - most probably because other colleagues have had the power to remove the name of someone who was clearly not in agreement with the general position in Hungary.  This is highly regrettable and the cause of reinstating her to the medical register is one I would strongly support.