Medicine: Without Fear

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Too many expectant mothers go to the delivery room terrified of what may be about to happen. Many of their fears are baseless, but, says noted Gynecologist James Ramsdell Bloss in the current Journal of the American Medical Association, it does little good merely to pooh-pooh them. By the time the expectant mother has listened to all the superstitions lurking in old wives' tales, heard the faddists explain the newest wrinkle in anesthesia, and read, in the women's magazines, about the latest mysterious blood factor, her fears have become very real to her.

"It is a grave error," writes Dr. Bloss, looking back on his own half-century of obstetrical practice, for the doctor "to permit the patient to feel that he is not giving serious and considered thought to her disturbing problems." The scientific approach is all very well, thinks Dr. Bloss but just as important are "a kind heart, an understanding experience, and something approaching at least a speaking acquaintanceship with the Almighty. One of the most important accomplishments of the obstetrician," Bloss concludes, "is his ability to guide the patient so that she shall approach the time of her delivery unafraid."