Support birth choices, support Dr Biter. Shinemama does!
For several months, I’ve heard the legend of Dr Robert ‘Dr Wonderful’ Biter. There’s even an ‘I love Dr Biter’ Facebook group. Being a natural sceptic I reserved judgement until Thursday night, when I volunteered at Mamafest, San Diego. He arrived fashionably late and seized the stage with a powerful, heartfelt address to the mothers and birth aficionados present. And then I saw what the fuss was about. Here was a charismatic man with something deeply important to say and alluding to horrifying oppression.
I don’t want to paraphrase and I didn’t take notes, but the message I received is that birth is sacred: Women have a special and wonderful power in birth. And it is being stolen from them. Dr Biter blamed fear. Fear and anger. Charitably, he didn’t blame greed, but I would guess that greed is the third culprit in this cruel trinity.
Dr Biter’s patients leave dazzling testimonials. He gives them choice in how they give birth. He doesn’t railroad them into unnecessary caesareans or pump them with artificial hormones to force or urge on labour. Others allow fear to overrule choice. Birth cannot be micromanaged and risk can never be erased. Too often, meddling introduces new risk.
Dr Biter gives his patients time and allows their bodies to work. He has never had a malpractice suit against him.
Yet he has now lost his privileges to deliver babies at Scripps Encinitas hospital. This was the reason he was late to Mamafest. He had to meet with lawyers. He truly is being oppressed.
Why? Well, the reason is confidential. But there are many questions. Is it because he doesn’t bring enough revenue in through unnecessary caesareans? Is it that other doctors are losing their patients to ‘Dr Wonderful’? Is it simply that he makes others look bad because he shows faith and confidence in his patients, treating them as intelligent, incredible humans who are capable of birthing their own babies, while others see birth as a process which requires intervention and management to work?
Shinemama has thrown away scepticism because all I heard from Dr Biter was sense. And in the last two days, I have heard he is willing to work unpaid as a doula to his existing clients at another hospital. A doctor working as a doula! Where others would let ego get in the way, this is a man who has put his patients first.
So I joined more than a hundred others outside Scripps Encinitas this Mothers’ Day morning to rally in support. Present were Biter-delivered babies, birth professionals of all stripes and people who recognise injustice.
Scripps Encinitas remain silent.
Support birth choices. Support doctors who support birth choices. Support Dr Biter.
May 10th, 2010 at 8:54 am
I find it hard to believe he was suspended for promoting natural births. I just gave birth at Scripps Encinitas a couple of months ago with a different OB and had a natural birth and was completely encouraged to do so. When the baby didn’t want to come out, the nurses and doctors suggested natural ways to get the process going rather than administer drugs. I also have friends who have had natural births there in the last month. There probably is more to this story than is being let on and I think people are going to feel differently about him when the real reason come out as to why Biter was suspended.
May 10th, 2010 at 10:20 am
Hi Katherine!
Thanks so much for writing this. Not only is Dr. Biter my doctor, and employer, but a dear friend! He needs as much good publicity as possible. Hope you’re doing well!
Andrea
May 10th, 2010 at 2:38 pm
i’d like to reply to mrssea07
your opinion is valid and thank you for sharing it… i think there are many others who are skeptical and wondering what this is all about. yes, there are many women who also birth unmedicated at scripps, with different ob’s and there’s no resistance. scripps is not anti-natural birth. but no one is voicing that…
what is being voiced is that dr. biter is being greatly oppressed by this hospital because his overall mentality of practicing obstetrics is very counter-cultural to the medical norm… it is natural focused and therefore doesn’t make the hospital a ton of money. many women have left other ob’s to go to him for care because of his personal approach and because they are assured that when it comes to birthing their babies, they know WHO is going to be there catching their baby and that they are not going to be pressured into the time table of their doctor or to have interventions done that are simply not needed. dr. biter’s patients are loyal to him and when his birth center opens, scripps knows that it’s bound to lose many would-be patients who will go where he goes.
i find it interesting that scripps is keeping their reasoning confidential… clearly dr. biter is not hiding anything, or i think that he would be pretty concerned with all the hype surrounding this matter. he’d be wanting for there NOT to be attention drawn.
within the medical community, there is a privacy and that’s a good thing when it comes to protecting patient’s medical histories, etc. but it’s a bad thing, in my opinion, when a hospital is hiding behind it.
i’m not advocating that every woman go to dr. biter or that every woman needs to choose a natural birth… i firmly believe that each woman has the right to choose how she wants to birth and with whom she wants to birth. at the same time i am 100% behind this man and am so thankful that he is sticking his neck out there to protect women and their birthing rights. he needs to be allowed the freedom to practice in the way that he does, as there are many, myself included, who trust their care to him.
May 17th, 2010 at 2:35 pm
Thank you MRSSEA07 for you honest entry. You are right on. Scripps OB doctors and nurses have AND still respected the women’s choice for natural birth IF it was/is in fact their desire. Protesters are not completely informed. This is a DR to DR issue that requires confidentiality on both sides. The Union Tribune HAS done their homework and found 4 malpractice lawsuits brought against this person BY PATIENTS all within the past 13 months (refer to the paper-article available to public online)…Stop drinking the Kool-Aid and do your homework, sainthood does not exist here. Women DO have a right to choose AND they have a right to SAFE care.
May 17th, 2010 at 3:30 pm
Ethics…how ethical is it to ask for credit card donations for one’s use???
May 17th, 2010 at 3:39 pm
To eyes wide open:
Dr. Biter has had gynecological malpractice cases, but NO obstetrical malpractice cases EVER in his 8 years of practicing. That is remarkable considering he’s delivered approx 500 babies last year. Dr. Biter has said that he’s open to have a public forum, yet Scripps maintains the confidentiality statement.
Once this case is open to the public, skeptics will see that they’ve just fed into the hype & negativity. Doctors like Dr. Biter do exist–genuine, caring, completely present. That’s why he has such a huge following. People drive from all areas of San Diego County just to see him. The farthest someone has driven is one lady from Santa Barbara. Until you meet him & experience him, please reserve your judgement. Innocent until proven guilty, right?
May 17th, 2010 at 3:49 pm
I’d like to reply to eyes wide open:
Just FYI, Dr. Biter is NOT asking for credit card donations for himself. An account has been set up for donations for his birthing center, a much needed facility in the birthing community that many of us strongly believe in. Also, if you look more into the lawsuits, they are not for OB practices. In addition, aren’t we in the type of society where people sue others for everything? Those of us who are behind this man are not in some sort of trans. We know him, have used him as our doctor and trust this man with the care of our pregnancy and children. I wouldn’t go to any other doctor to deliver my child.
May 17th, 2010 at 7:20 pm
as stated above… the malpractice suits cited in the tribune are for gyn related cases and not for ob cases… yet it’s his ob privileges which have been suspended. this does not add up.
mrssea07 and eyeswideopen… you do not have to agree with me… but please, don’t insult me or any of the other educated women who are backing dr. biter by suggesting that we’ve “drunk the kool-aid” and insinuating that that we are cult followers. i am basing my opinion on the facts that i know of dr. biter and the other dr’s deciding his fate and from conversations I’ve had with him face to face.
also- as this conversations goes further, do us a favor and use your real names, as we have, instead of seeming to hide behind screen names as you make your acquisitions and judgments.
May 19th, 2010 at 3:28 pm
Although the lawsuits stated in the paper are for GYN and not OB, they are nonetheless against the SAME physician. It’s disturbing how bad medical decisions can be excused by the public because they did not occur in OB or because he’s a “nice guy”…it is still the “woman’s” body and HER reproductive and urological organs that are being manipulated. If all it took was celebrity and public popularity and just being a “wonderful” person to maintain practice at any given facility, I would think twice about the facility. Fortunately there are rules, guidelines and bylaws that must be followed in order to practice at Scripps otherwise there are consequences…and here we are.
May 20th, 2010 at 9:45 am
You failed to mention safe care in your “May 19th Latest News” blog…isn’t that a priority?
May 21st, 2010 at 5:44 am
How do you know his cases are for Gyny not OB? The average number of lifetime malpractice suits for OB/gyns is 2.5. Yet this guy has 6-7 in less than a decade. That’s astoundingly bad, no matter what they are for.
If it is true he has no OB suits it could be due to Calf. malpractice restrictions. California tends to reject damages that are not extremely obviously related — like medical expenses. OBs and midwives who just stand around and let nature take its course tend to kill babies, not maim them for life. They may not recognize the damage of the death of a person who didn’t have a job (real nice, isn’t it?) His brand of OB malpractice might not be actionable under CA’s laws.
What is his death rates related to labor (both stillbirths in labor and deaths shortly after)?
May 21st, 2010 at 6:01 am
“In addition, aren’t we in the type of society where people sue others for everything?”
You can’t in the state of California.