The Gospel of Good Obstetrics: Joseph Bolivar DeLee's Vision for Childbirth in the United States

This article reconsiders the place of obstetrician Joseph Bolivar DeLee in the historical narrative. Often celebrated as a founding father of the profession, and denigrated as one of the leading proponents of instrumental childbirth, DeLee was not entirely the man historians and childbirth activists blame him for being. Rather than seeking to resolve the contradiction between DeLee's widely cited professional writings and his lesser known practices, this article instead focuses on the broader tenure of DeLee's career, particularly his ‘Gospel of Good Obstetrics’. Doing so permits us to see the efforts of a physician who spent nearly 50 years defending the advantages of home birth without anaesthesia and without instrumentation and who built institutions that provided Chicago mothers with these birthing experiences. This article also explores how DeLee envisioned his techniques and institutions as the basis for an obstetrics revolution in the United States.

Source: Social History of Medicine - February 5, 2016 Category: History of Medicine Authors: Lewis, C. H. Tags: Original Articles Source Type: research