Charge women for needless NHS epidurals, say midwives

One of many foul consequences of socialised medicine is that the staff think their views take priority over those of the patient. In a private hospital, one is a customer and entitled to the same sort of care and consideration I give to my fee-paying clients. In an NHS "health concentration camp", one is a cost to the taxpayer and a nuisance to the staff.

If a midwife was not attracted to the profession by a sadistic streak in the first place, she is likely soon to become inured to the suffering of her patients. Birth for her is an everyday humdrum bore, not a life-changing and magnificent event. I attended two very important births in an NHS maternity home in England and was horrified by the arrogant approach of the staff.

A young doctor moaned about needing just one more birth on his training checklist so that he could "get out of obstetrics forever." My wife tried to oblige him but his shift ended too soon and he left with undisguised irritation, the c***.

An arrogant, bossy, brain-dead midwife told my wife that she could not have the epidural she had signed up for in advance as it wasn't - in her view - "necessary". I explained that I thought my wife's view on the subject more important than hers. She disagreed. That was the only time in my life that I did my lawyerly "heavy" act on my own behalf and threatened to sue. I am sure I had no legal leg to stand on, but she read my fierce eyes and complied.

Britain's public servants don't know their place any more. The police don't anwer to us, but preach to us. Ministers don't administer the Government on our behalf, but tell us how to live and even speak of using the law as an instrument of "education". Our midwives think themselves experts, entitled to determine how much pain our womenfolk "should" bear. Our legislators, given a rare "free vote" promptly use it to tell us how to behave behind the closed doors of our private clubs. No wonder the public sector is growing so fast. If you want to experience the thrill of bossing others about, it's a lot easier to get such opportunities in Government, however lowly your position, than it is to build (or rise to the top of) a business empire.

Telegraph | News | Charge women for needless NHS epidurals, say midwives