Hospital ‘Shutters’ at Thought of Birth Photos

For Felicia Monticelli, it was the epitome of a Kodak moment: that first glimpse of her daughter’s tiny head, followed by the reassuring wail announcing the start of a life.

But it was not to be. Just before her daughter emerged and Monticelli’s sister began snapping away, the midwife turned and said: “There will be no pictures.”

Frederick Memorial Hospital, as it turned out, had banned the use of cameras in the delivery room.

“I really would like to have had a photograph of her birth,” a wistful Monticelli, of Frederick, Md., said Monday.

The hospital in this rapidly growing Washington exurb has drawn the ire of a small legion of mothers who have gathered about 200 signatures demanding that Frederick Memorial change its no-cameras policy.

The protesters say the policy denies them the right to record for posterity one of the most precious moments in their lives: the birth of their children. They accuse hospital officials of trying to protect themselves against malpractice suits at the mothers’ expense.

For their part, hospital officials say the rule, adopted in April 2000, is intended to protect the health of mothers and newborns. It was prompted by yet another overzealous father who crammed the delivery room with “tripods and wires,” interfering with the ability of medical personnel to do their jobs, said Ken Coffey, a spokesman for the hospital.

“Our number one priority is the safe and healthy delivery of a baby and a safe and healthy mom,” Coffey said.

The mothers aren’t buying it.

“I think any hospital that thinks they’re protecting a mother and baby by taking away their right to photograph is fooling themselves and the community,” said Jennifer Taylor, a birthing assistant who helped Monticelli during the delivery and launched the petition drive. “They’re a priceless, once-in-a-lifetime memory that can never be gotten again.”

Frederick Memorial’s policy is the exception, rather than the rule, according to Rick Wade, a senior vice president of the American Hospital Assn. Most hospitals allow the physician to decide whether to permit photography at a birth, Wade said.

Officials at some of the bigger birthing centers in the Washington area say they leave the decision to the doctor and patient. The only restriction on photography at George Washington University Hospital has to do with space constraints, said spokeswoman Marti Harris.

“Whether or not to film is based on a discussion between the patient and physician and what they want to do,” Harris said. “The only thing that plays into that is the size of our rooms. They’re smaller, so you may not be able to fit a tripod or something like that in the room.”

But some say the camera ban at Frederick Memorial may be a sign of the future. Jack H. Olender, a prominent Washington medical malpractice lawyer, said doctors are pushing to make such policies the norm for exactly the reason suspected by the angry mothers.

“It is frankly discussed that this shouldn’t be available for lawsuits,” Olender said. “In legal action, the videotape could be very strong evidence.”

In fact, a committee at the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists is considering the liability implications of using recording devices during deliveries.

Women’s rights should come before doctor’s concerns, according to Liz O’Shea, president of the Birthing Circle of Frederick, a group for expectant mothers that is helping to circulate the petition to Frederick Memorial.

O’Shea said she and other women fear that by banning cameras, hospitals risk returning to an era in which it was common for women to be heavily sedated during childbirth and barely conscious of the experience.

“I just feel that this is going backward,” O’Shea said. “They’re starting to take some of those rights away.”