Busting Myths About High Risk Pregnancy with Dr. Stu Fischbein, MD #highriskpregnancy

The term 'high risk pregnancy' has no medical definition and is often used as a fear tactic rather than meaningful medical information

Dr. Stuart Fischbein explains that ACOG considers pregnancy itself to be high-risk, meaning virtually every pregnant woman gets labeled as high-risk for arbitrary reasons like being over 35, having twins, or previous IVF

VBAC carries only a 1 in 1,200 risk of serious complications—the same risk as Down syndrome at age 25, yet no one calls 25-year-olds high-risk

Dr. Fischbein breaks down the actual mathematics: 1 in 200 risk of uterine separation times 16% risk of bad outcome equals 1 in 1,200 actual risk

Constant fear and stress during pregnancy bathes the developing baby in cortisol and adrenaline instead of beneficial hormones like oxytocin

Dr. Fischbein explains how fear-based prenatal care creates chronic stress that affects fetal development through stress hormone exposure

Midwifery care with 30-60 minute visits produces better outcomes than 6-8 minute OB visits, including lower rates of gestational diabetes and hypertension

Dr. Fischbein compares outcomes between midwifery model of care focused on prevention versus medicalized model focused on problem management

The Friedman curve used to justify labor interventions is fundamentally flawed because it labels 50% of women as dilating 'too slowly' by mathematical design

Dr. Fischbein explains that the curve represents an average, meaning half of all women naturally fall below it—making normal variation appear pathological

Women must question medical interventions and demand evidence-based reasoning rather than accepting fear-based recommendations

Austin and Dr. Fischbein emphasize that patients have the right to challenge unnecessary procedures like routine color Doppler ultrasounds and excessive monitoring