Avram -“By comparison, the overall neonatal mortality rate for whites (the rate is significantly higher for blacks) in New York in 2007 was 3.27 per 1000 births. In Maryland it was 3.54, New Jersey 2.86. For women intending to deliver at home under the care of certified nurse midwives, including those who were transferred to hospitals for delivery due to problems with either mother or baby, the rate was 2.5.”
You just did the old trickeroo. You compared overall mortality to home-birth mortality.
“Not sure where this tripling (or exponential increase) of the infant mortality rate is coming from. Probably home births that are not properly supervised, which we all agree is a bad idea.”
Now you might be right, but this Non-properly supervised is still supervised by a mid-wife. This misunderstanding on your part might even be accidental. It’s hard for Non-medical people to understand these research articles -so I just post the revelant parts.
The bottom line is – planned hospital births is safer for the infant than planned home-births, even after screening the mothers and diverting them prior to a hospital. There remains a 2-3 times more risk of death in the home-birth setting!