Cnm Practice

Awareness of Legal Risk In Midwifery Practice

When any of us embark on a career, especially in the healthcare professions, we do not expect to spend time in a courtroom, someday, accused of negligence and forced to defend the care we have provided. I do not support a position that the risk of being sued for medical or midwifery negligence should be, obsessively, on our minds.

Nurse-midwives may choose to have their own practice, independent physically and financially from a collaborating physician. A variety of arrangements can exist and the CNM actually is in complete control of her practice. This type of arrangement is increasingly rare, these days but the following descriptions may prove helpful.

Hospitals where CNMs are employed can be university hospitals associated with medical schools, private teaching hospitals, community hospitals, government hospitals, military hospitals or critical access hospitals.