Camera and Video Camera Ban Sparks Controversy for Expecting Parents

Is the ability to take photos and videos during your delivery a right or a privilege? Apparently, while many expecting parents thought it was their right to capture the moment on camera, that may not, in fact, be the case. Many hospitals are now choosing to ban the use of technology in the deliver to protect doctors and nurses and to allow the professionals to focus on their jobs.

Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston has placed a ban on cameras and video cameras, preventing parents from filming the birth of their baby (or babies, in the case of multiples). While Dr. Erin E Tracy is an advocate of the ban, many parents are furious over the new guidelines and are speaking out as well.

Dr Tracy explains that filming the births often caused delivery rooms to become “a bit of a media circus,” adding that they “want to be focused on the medical care, and in this litigious atmosphere, where ads are on TV every 30 seconds about suing, it makes physicians gun-shy.”

The decision not to use cameras in delivery rooms at Massachusetts General is strictly a general practice and, at this point in time, is not a written policy. If the doctors had their say, most would agree that photos and videos are best taken after the delivery process. On the other hand, expecting parents still have their say and many are adamant about capturing their child’s first moments of life on tape.

It is expected that more hospitals will eventually join the ban and choose not to allow filming in the delivery room.

What do you think: Are you in favor of cameras and video cameras in the delivery room – or do you think they’re too much of a distraction for doctors and nurses?