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Video taping baby's first moments may be a thing of the past
By Allison Linn
Associated Press Business Writer
SEATTLE - John C. Nelson admits that he gets a little teary-eyed every time he sees the videotape of a close friend's child being born by Caesarean section.
But don't expect Nelson, an obstetrician and president of the American Medical Association, to allow any of his patients to capture all the same heartfelt and life-changing moments on videotape. Like other doctors around the country, Nelson said increasing fears that those family videotapes could one day be used in a lawsuit led him to start asking parents to limit camera use during some of their infant's first moments.
"What once used to be really fun and warm and cozy and so forth is now a potential nail in the coffin from a liability perspective," said Nelson, who practices in Salt Lake City and delivered babies until 2003. The medical association doesn't offer specific guidelines on personal videotaping of deliveries, but Nelson said ongoing concerns about medical liability has many doctors and hospitals at least cutting back on what they will allow. He said he began restricting mom and dad's videotaping after the medical center he practiced in, LDS Hospital, started urging limitations.
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommends that its members discuss what limitations there may be on filming the birth during a patient's prenatal visits, so there are no surprises in the delivery room, said Larry Veltman, chair of the committee on professional liability. While doctors' preferences still vary, he said, "Certainly the tendency is to move toward less and less ability to videotape."
In his own practice in Portland, Ore., Veltman allows some videotaping and photography, as long as the family has oral permission from everyone in the room and agrees to turn off the camera in an emergency. He says some doctors also may let the family videotape the baby right after delivery, but not the delivery itself, while others may be even more restrictive.
Nelson concedes that it can be difficult to tell excited, expectant parents that they will not be able to capture baby's first scream, or mom's hard work, on film. But he said many doctors are to the point that they worry less about hurting a patient's feelings than about the potential for liability in the heat of an emergency.
"The doctor wants to be concerned about the clinical issue in front of him, and not have to worry about how it's going to play on TV," Nelson said.
Others argue, however, that that is exactly how doctors should be thinking when they deliver a baby or perform another medical procedure.
Beninger said he thinks most people want to record a child's birth for the memories, not the evidence Š but argues those tapes can also come in handy if there is a dispute.
He and his client, Dylan Malone, relied on a personal videotape in a case involving Malone's son, Ian, who was born in 1999 and died last May of pneumonia, a result of complications related to his birth.
The family eventually reached a $2 million settlement with Cascade Midwives and Birth Center in Everett. Malone said that was largely because medical records inaccurately portrayed Ian as healthy throughout the birth while the videotape showed dire complications. The medical center declined to comment.
Some health care providers say filming limitations have been spurred by hospitals. Tim Clarke, spokesman for the American College of Nurse-Midwives, said many midwives have no problem with cameras in the delivery room but are feeling pressure from the hospitals they practice in to limit their use.
Alicia Mitchell, a spokeswoman for the American Hospital Association, said some hospitals have come up with formal policies, but many simply urge the patient to work with the physician and other medical personnel on setting guidelines.
For about two years, Swedish Medical Center in Seattle has required patients to get verbal consent from all medical workers present before being allowed to film or take pictures during births. Patients and family members are also forbidden from capturing some procedures, such as administration of anesthesia.
Although videotaping cutbacks stem from lawsuit concerns, Veltman said he hasn't heard of insurance companies pushing doctors to stop videotaping. Gary Morse, general counsel with Seattle-based Physicians Insurance a Mutual Company, said the issue was discussed somewhat by insurers in the 1980s, when home video cameras began appearing, but his company hasn't dealt with it since.
After his son's birth, Malone became a staunch proponent of allowing videotapes in delivery rooms. But when his own second child, Molly, was born in a different hospital, the Malones tried to create an experience exactly opposite of their sonÕs birth Š and that included ditching the video camera.
"I didn't even ask about their policies," Malone said. "I wanted a very different birth."
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