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NEWS: Xavier Bosch Spanish doctors criticised for high tech births BMJ 1998; 317: 1406b [Full text]

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WHO's recommendations have an uncertain future in Spain

José J Santonja-Lucas   (23 November 1998)

WHO's recommendations have an uncertain future in Spain 23 November 1998
José J Santonja-Lucas, Chief of the Service of Obstetrics and Gynaecology Hospital General Universitario de Valencia Send response to journal: Re: WHO's recommendations have an uncertain future in Spain	Criticisms of obstetric practice in Spain recently reached the daily papers, with a two page article on Sunday 1 November (http://www.elpais.es ). Last Friday, 20 November, a meeting held in Gandia by the Valencian Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology looked at obstetric practice from the point of view of evidence based medicine and reached the same conclusions as the WHO recommendations. In the panel discussion a very high resistance to adhere to these recommendations were maintained by many obstericians and midwives, with the complicity of some of the most representative authorities in obstetrics of our society. With politicians in this country becoming the source of recommendations on such topics as epidural block, I believe that the chances of Spanish obstetric practice changing to WHO's recommendations are slim.