Sorry you had such a crappy experience, OP. :( I find threads like these frustrating because they seem to devolve into midwife bashing, as if a few bad apples represent the entire profession and that all midwives/doulas are the same. And look, midwives and doulas? they're not the same thing. not even close. One is a health care provider, and the other is a patient advocate. The differences are vast and significant.

I can tell you that we're not all the same. We're as diverse as any profession and you really do need to do your research and make sure that your care provider is skilled and qualified before you enter care. I'm training to be a midwife in Canada where midwifery is a lot more regulated than it is in the US. We are trained to cope and manage a wide variety of pregnancy and labor-related situations and complications, and we work closely with OBs to make sure that women get the care they need. While many of us advocate for our clients' right to avoid -unnecessary- interventions, the majority of us would agree that the best birth is a safe birth and we do everything we can to safeguard that. So far as a student almost every birth I have attended has involved some sort of intervention that someone out there would probably be up in arms about. I've seen epidurals, IV antibiotics, episiotomies, and vacuum assisted birth, and each time I felt like the midwife in charge did their best to make sure that the woman in labour was informed about her options, and the risks and benefits of each procedure. An epidural isn't a failure, and neither is any other intervention. Interventions are just tools, and tools are value-neutral - it's what we do with them and the context in which we choose to deploy them that matters. The women I've supported through labour (albeit in a student's role) seemed to feel supported, and as if they were able to take an active role in determining the best course of action for them. Even a c-section is a tool, that we are trained to know when that is is the right course of action for the safety and health of mother and baby.

We are regulated and we answer to our governing body. In my case the College of Midwives of Ontario. We carry liability insurance like doctors do. We are subject to disciplinary measures and investigation if we screw up. Our schooling is rigorous (and exhausting, let me tell you!) and is evidence-based and scientifically sound. As an example we take the same anatomy and physiology courses as MDs do, and we have similar lengthy clinical placements that focus on the development and honing of our clinical skills.

I really hope that someday things change in the States. I know it's different from how it is up here, I know that it's a little like the wild west right now, with little regulation and accountability and people claiming to have training and skills that they simply do not possess, for example a CNM is different from a CPM etc. It's frustrating but I think that the answer is federal and state regulation of midwives, and more rigorous entry requirements to the profession, because this is an issue of public health and safety. If I were an American, this is something that I would be writing to state and federal representatives about.