For nearly three decades, the alternative and integrative medical communities have actively questioned the rigid, automated protocols of mainstream obstetrics. In line with this tradition, independent researchers like Cory Mermer have brilliantly exposed the systemic flaws of premature umbilical cord clamping—vividly illustrating the physiological and historical “bind” that modern active management forces upon families in pieces like The Cord That Binds.

As a volunteer health policy reviewer active since 1998, based in Dawson Creek, British Columbia, I have watched with growing concern as the routine bundle of care known as “Active Management of the Third Stage of Labor” continues to be aggressively imposed without true, bilateral informed risk consent. The medical literature now confirms what biological intuition always knew: immediate or early cord clamping deprives a newborn of up to one-third of their natural circulating blood volume at the exact moment of pulmonary transition. This sudden deprivation causes subtle, lasting neurological and physical impairments, compromising brain myelination and leaving infants needlessly weakened.

Compounding this medical injury is a massive conflict of interest. Mainstream policies frequently protect the highly profitable commercial public and private cord blood banking systems, which extract and sell stem-cell-rich blood that rightfully belongs inside the infant.

To break this institutional cycle, birth planning must evolve. A passive “birth plan” or “wish list” carries no legal weight against entrenched hospital guidelines. True emancipation requires a structural shift to a formal “Birth Contract” (or Declaration of Non-Consent).

I would like to submit a commentary piece to the Townsend Letter that outlines the hidden economics of active management, details the subtle impairments caused by early clamping, and provides practitioners and families with a blueprint for a legally formidable Birth Contract. This framework:

1. Defines Physiological Completion Over Arbitrary Time Limits: Mandating that the cord remain completely intact, unclamped, and untied until the placenta is birthed naturally or removed fully intact during a Caesarean delivery, turning flat and white.
2. Protects the Emergency Window: Requiring that initial resuscitation be performed at the maternal bedside with the cord fully intact.
3. Flips the Liability Balance: Utilizing an explicit “Assumption of Responsibility” clause that disarms defensive medicine by relieving doctors of malpractice fear for practicing non-intervention at the parents’ express command.

Below, please find a draft of this structural Birth Contract along with my accompanying policy review brief. I believe your readership of progressive clinicians, naturopaths, and consumer advocates will find this legal and physiological strategy incredibly timely and vital for reclaiming the integrity of human birth.

Thank you for your time and continued dedication to independent medical truth.

Sincerely,

Ms. Donna Young, Volunteer Health Policy Reviewer

P.O. Box 504, Dawson Creek, BC V1G 4H4, Canada

250-719-7381

dyoungdawson@gmail.com

Draft Birth Contract

Formal Cover Letter for the Medical Team

To: Attending Obstetricians, Surgeons, Midwives, and Institutional Administrators

From: Ms. Donna Young, Volunteer Health Policy Reviewer (Active since 1998)

Mailing Address: P.O. Box 504, Dawson Creek, BC V1G 4H4, Canada

Contact: Cell: 250-719-7381 | Email: dyoungdawson@gmail.com

Regarding: Presentation of Formal Declaration of Informed Consent and Conditions of Care (The Birth Contract)

To the Attending Medical Team,

Since 1998, I have served actively as a volunteer reviewer of healthcare and maternity policies. Over nearly three decades of evaluating evidence-based obstetrical data and neonatal outcomes, my focus has remained heavily centered on the physiological and neurological integrity of the newborn during the critical transitional phase of birth.

Through this extensive work, it has become irrefutably clear that the routine, aggressive application of “Active Management of the Third Stage of Labor”—specifically the immediate or premature clamping and cutting of the umbilical cord—has a profound and devastating impact on the newborn. Depriving an infant of up to one-third of their natural, circulating blood volume at the exact moment their lungs must inflate is a systemic injury. The medical literature, supported by pioneer researchers ranging from Dr. Mavis Gunther’s early warnings to Dr. Judith S. Mercer’s modern neurological assessments, confirms that premature clamping leaves infants subtly and seriously impaired. By stripping them of vital oxygenated blood, iron stores, and essential stem cells, this standard policy compromises brain myelination, weakens cardiovascular transition, and leaves newborns unnecessarily vulnerable.

Tragically, this massive physiological deprivation is routinely imposed within institutional settings without true, fully informed risk consent from both parents. Parents are rarely informed that standard active management is an intervention that diverts the infant’s own biological property away from them—a conflict of interest that is heavily exacerbated by the financial motives of the commercial cord blood banking industry.

The attached document, titled “Formal Declaration of Informed Consent, Conditions of Care, and Absolute Refusal of Specific Medical Interventions” (The Birth Contract), has been drafted to correct this systemic failure.

Please note the following foundational principles of this document:

• True Emancipation and Autonomy: This document establishes the absolute legal emancipation of the mother during labor and childbirth. It removes her from the passive position of offering a “wish list” or “plan” to be managed by institutional convenience, and reinstates her as the sovereign director of her own bodily care and that of her child.
• Complete Physiological Protection: It completely eliminates arbitrary time limits. It mandates that the third stage of labor must be 100% finished, the placenta entirely birthed or removed intact during a Caesarean section, and the cord completely flat, white, and non-pulsating before any separation is considered.
• Parental Command Over Separation: It firmly states that the mother and father hold the sole authority to decide when the cord is to be amputated using proper, sanitized methods.
• Airtight Legal Accountability: By explicitly accepting full responsibility and releasing the medical team from liability for the natural outcomes of non-intervention, this contract dismantles the defensive medical panic that often drives forced institutional interference.

This document is a binding notification of Informed Refusal under federal and provincial healthcare laws regarding bodily autonomy. It has been placed in the patient’s file to ensure that the medical team and the institution are fully aware of their boundaries. We expect these directives to be honored completely, ensuring a safe, legally compliant, and undisturbed biological transition for both mother and infant.

Sincerely,

Ms. Donna Young

Volunteer Health Policy Reviewer (Maternity & Neonatal Care)

Advocate for Physiological Birth Integrity Since 1998