The Mother-Friendly Childbirth Initiative states, “A mother-friendly hospital, birth center, or home birth service … educates staff in non-drug methods of pain relief, and does not promote the use of analgesic or anesthetic drugs not specifically required to correct a complication.”
Lamaze Healthy Birth Practice #4: Avoid Interventions That Are Not Medically Necessary includes a section about routine epidural use.
Medical Risks of Epidural Anesthesia During Childbirth: a paper by By Lewis Mehl-Madrona, M.D., Ph.D. and Morgaine Mehl-Madrona
