August 28, 1998

Medical Board of California
Midwifery Licensing Program
1426 Howe Ave. Suite 54
Sacramento, Ca 95825-3236
916/263-2393  Fax 916/263-2567

Att: : Thomas Joas, MD President, MBC
Chair, Midwifery Implementation Committee (MIC)

Dear Dr. Joas,

I was very pleased to receive your letter of 8/21/98 identifying me as a possible expert reviewer for the Midwifery Licensing program. I am very interested the field of midwifery regulation and its administration and would be please to be called up to function in the capacity of an expert reviewer for the MBC. My CV is attached.

I am currently developing a data base for the members of our professional liability insurance pool identifying “Characteristics of Competency” for community-based midwifery as determined by evidence-based practice parameters. They will be posted on our web site in the near future. In addition to the available scientific literature I am also utilizing the traditional scope of practice and characteristics of competency as defined in 3 very credible documents which directly address the domiciliary practice of midwives in jurisdictions where such care is government-sanction and regulated. These source documents are from the College of Midwives of British Columbia;  the WHO’s “Safe Motherhood” series publication entitled “Care in Normal Birth: a practical guide” and the Koosterman list from the Netherlands delineating the risk factors that authorize medical payment for hospital care (the national health insurance policy in Holland routinely covers only the services of a domicilairy midwife unless there is an identified complication or compounded risk factors). 

The purpose of competency guidelines is to improve the quality of maternity care provided by community-based midwives and (one hopes) to reduce the frequency of problematic outcomes which might lead to expensive litigation or professional disciplinary action.  I believe that these goals mirrors those of the Medical Board, with its mandate to promote consumer safety, and thus may be of interest to you and other members of Implementation Committee.  I look forward to hearing from you in the near future. 

Warm Regards,

faith gibson, LM CPM

CC Stewart Hsieh, Member, MIC
Anita Scuri, Senior Legal Counsel
Kim Marquardt, Manger, Midwifery Licensing Program
Gloria Macias, Licensing Analyst