OBGYN Quotes

"I'd section all women if I could. It's the 'way to go'."

"The vagina is not made for having babies anymore than the penis is. I'm speaking as the head of the ob/gyn department here. I want to come across as the voice of reason in this."

"If I could give all men vasectomies, I would. No wives should have to go through birth more than twice, at the most."

"We shave 'em, we prep 'em, we hook 'em up to the IV and administer sedation. We deliver the baby, it goes to the nursery and the mother goes to her room. There's no room for niceties around here."

"I put women on a pedestal. I open doors for them. I have a lot of respect for them. In the hospital I have to see them in certain degrading positions, see certain degrading parts of their bodies. So I try to do all I can to maintain their dignity. I heard that one of these younger doctors lets women be naked on his examining table. Can you imagine that? Why would any woman want to do that? I had gowns specially made that conceal all of a woman's body except the part I absolutely have to see in order to preserve their dignity. Once I saw a woman in labor - another doctor's patient - she was crawling around on all fours, stark naked, panting like a puppy. Can you imagine? What kind of respect for women does that show?"
-from Birth as an American Rite of Passage by Robbie Davis-Floyd

"I just want my couples to have as good a hospital experience as possible, so I make sure they understand everything that's going to happen to them so they won't be shocked or scared. If I talked too much about alternatives, I would just set them up with expectations that are not going to get fulfilled. Besides, I like my job and I don't want to lose it."

When n Compleat Mother editor Jody McLaughlin suggested to Alan R. Lindenmann, M.D. that women should give birth in an upright position so as to make use of gravity, he responded by saying "Gravity doesn't affect all women."