When an obstetrician who’s been inside the system for over forty years says, “The system is broken,” we should probably listen.
That’s exactly what Dr. Stuart Fischbein, known to most as “Dr. Stu," told me when we sat down for a powerful, truth-telling conversation on The Discerning Mother Podcast.
He wasn’t exaggerating.
Dr. Stu began his career in the 1980s as a traditional OB-GYN at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, working in a high-volume setting where birth was treated as a medical event to be managed, not a sacred process to be respected.
He told me about the early days when breech births, twins, and complex cases were handled naturally and safely because doctors were actually trained in them. But, over time, something shifted. The more he practiced, the more he realized that the rules he was expected to follow didn’t serve women at all. In fact, many of them directly harmed women physically, emotionally, and spiritually.
When he and his midwife colleagues started seeing dramatically lower C-section rates (around 7% compared to 30–40% in nearby hospitals), instead of celebrating, the hospital pushed them out.
Why? Because low intervention doesn’t make money.
One of the most sobering truths Dr. Stu shared was that birth has quietly become one of the most profitable industries in healthcare.
Each epidural, each induction, and each C-section adds another line item to the hospital’s bottom line. That means the less intervention you need, the less valuable you are to the system. As he put it, “Hospitals are not designed for physiological birth; they’re designed for efficiency, control, and billing codes.”
That’s when he made a radical choice: to step away from the system completely. Not because he stopped caring about women, but because he cared too much to stay silent.
After being expelled from hospital practice, Dr. Stu began attending home births. At first, it wasn’t part of the plan it was survival, but what he discovered there changed everything.
He saw women laboring freely, without time limits or fluorescent lights.
He saw fathers truly present, protective, tender, connected.
He saw what birth looks like when God’s design is honored instead of managed.
He began to realize something shocking: The majority of what he had been taught about obstetrics wasn’t based on truth.
From cord cutting to inductions for “diabetic” mothers to mandatory C-sections for breech or twins so many of these practices were built not on evidence, but on fear, control, and financial incentives.
When I brought up birth trauma, Dr. Stu didn’t hesitate. He agreed that the trauma rate often cited as 30–45% is probably much higher, because so many women don’t even realize their experience was traumatic.
They were told, “Your baby is healthy, that’s all that matters," but it’s not all that matters.
Women’s stories matter. Their emotional and spiritual safety matter and when those are ignored, even the best medical outcome can leave a scar.
This is where our conversation turned deeply human. We talked about how the system doesn’t just dismiss women it also diminishes men!! Fathers are often sidelined, made to feel irrelevant or in the way.
Yet when men are invited back into the birth process when they’re encouraged to protect, pray, and participate it changes everything not only for the birth itself, but for the marriage, the family, and the child.
Dr. Stu’s words reminded me that what we’re really up against isn’t just bad policy it’s a worldview.
It’s a worldview that sees birth as a liability to be managed, not a holy moment to be protected. That sees women as patients, not participants. That rewards doctors for compliance instead of compassion.
As Christians, we know that healing begins when truth is spoken. We can’t redeem what we won’t acknowledge. Right now, God is raising up voices, women, midwives, and yes, doctors, who are willing to say “enough.”
If you’re reading this and you’ve felt uneasy about what’s “normal” in maternity care, trust that!!
If you’ve ever wondered if there’s a better way- there is.
Ask questions.
Interview your providers.
Refuse to sign anything until you understand it.
Your birth, your body, your baby - they all deserve respect.
As Dr. Stu beautifully reminded me, the system may be broken, but you, dear mother, are not.
Listen to our full conversation on The Discerning Mother Podcast
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