Midwifery is a health care profession distinct from nursing. Midwives specialize in providing primary care to women during pregnancy, labour, birth and postpartum in relation to low risk prenatal, intrapartum and postnatal care. They promote the natural birthing process of normal vaginal deliveries without drugs or surgical interventions, and are trained to handle low risk […]
Birth, Families and Employment
November 1, 2013 By Linda McKay-Panos
When a child comes into a family (through birth or adoption) and where the caregivers are employed (e.g., working for pay), there will need to be some kind of arrangement for leave from the employment in order to care for the child. Most families require that at least some portion of the leave is paid […]
Who is a Parent? Not a Simple Question!
November 1, 2013 By Stephanie Jansen
If anything could be said about the law, it is slow to change. Our social structure continues to evolve at a faster pace than the law, which is creating difficulties in society and the courts. We are seeing impacts on individuals and couples who are having children in non-traditional ways as the definition of what […]
No Right to “Know One’s Past”: The BCCA in Pratten v British Columbia (Attorney General)
November 1, 2013 By Nikita Rathwell
In a decision released on November 27, 2012, the British Columbia Court of Appeal (BCCA) in Pratten v British Columbia, 2012 BCCA 480, reversed the British Columbia Supreme Court’s (BCSC) decision that provisions of the provincial Adoption Act are unconstitutional as a result of their failure to take into account the rights of people conceived using sperm from an anonymous donor […]
Legal and Ethical Support for Newborn Safe Havens
November 1, 2013 By Geoffrey W. Cundiff, Thomas D. Maddix, Karen Macmillan, Gordon Self and Josh Stachniak
In May 2010, Providence Health Care in Vancouver announced the opening of the first newborn safe haven in Canada at St. Paul’s Hospital. Four months later, Providence confirmed a healthy baby was dropped off at the hospital, setting off a further round of national and international media attention. And now this year, following Providence’s lead […]
