It's somewhat of a catch-22 situation. Midwives do less interventions, thus labor and delivery is generally lower stress on both mother and baby. Stress and multiple interventions, esp. administration of pitocin results in more complications. There have been a number of studies in this area. Having been an NICU nurse for 12 years, somewhere there needs to be a happy medium of knowing when intervention is necessary and having the skills/equipment needed. Sadly, doctors tend to over react and midwives under react. Added to this mix is the insurance company pressure to do every intervention conceivable so that in the event of a suit they can show they did everything they could. Conversely, the expections on the midwife are to do the least intervention possible. And sometimes, despite doing all the right stuff, the outcome is still bad, but the doctor or midwife gets sued anyway. My personal opinion is that the insurance companies shouldn't be dictating a doctors practice and medical decisions.
No, they shouldn't, but the threat of lawsuits forces them to play defense right from the outset.
My comment on midwifes can perhaps be modified: people having children at home with only a midwife present are taking an enormous risk. In a hospital or birthing center setting, that risk is vastly reduced, on the assumption that an obstetrician and neonatologist are easily available.
I love all of you NICU nurses. Period.