Home births as a "right" of female patients in the context of medicine, legislation and court jurisprudence

Abstract

Summary: Currently, in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, more and more women prefer a planned home birth to a hospital birth, despite the fact that the hospital provides a safe environment for laboring women, thanks to the possibility to intervene at any time in case of complications. These women consider childbirth a natural process, while obstetric care is often considered unnecessary. According to the World Health Organization, birth can only be defi ned as physiological after birth. Even though women can give birth without medical assistance, it is not possible to identify in advance the mothers and newborns who will need some kind of intervention during childbirth. Although a planned home birth is associated with fewer maternal interventions and the probability of a spontaneous vaginal birth, compared to a planned hospital birth, the risk of neonatal death is two- to three-times higher. Key words: home birth – out-of-hospital birth – low-risk pregnancy – maternal mortality – perinatal mortality