Giving birth “naturally”: If the child dies, the mother will go to jail for committing a criminal offense

That is the information that Mr. Nguyen Quang Huy, Director of the Legal Department, Ministry of Health, affirmed at a press conference held at Tu Du Hospital, Ho Chi Minh City (morning of March 15) related to the case of a mother and child who died due to giving birth using the "natural" method (up to now, it is considered fabricated information because the health sector has not found any cases of death due to giving birth at home - PV).

Mr. Nguyen Huy Quang, Director of Legal Department, Ministry of Health. Photo: H. Hai

Mr. Quang Huy's legal analysis points out: Currently, the natural childbirth method is spreading as a trend. In addition to the dangers lurking for both mother and baby during childbirth, according to the provisions of the law, natural childbirth (ie, a person giving birth by themselves without the assistance of others or medical staff) also has many problems.

“First, reproductive methods must be recognized by law. Second, the mother’s birth must be guaranteed to be safe at medical facilities by doctors and specialists with practice certificates to support and intervene in the mother’s reproductive process.

Women who choose natural childbirth think it is their right, but it is not. Their responsibility during the birthing process is to ensure their own safety and the health and life of the child or grandchild (surrogate mother) they give birth to.

Children need to be born using safe reproductive methods as prescribed by the Ministry of Health.

If a mother actively chooses the natural method of giving birth and lets her child die, it is an act of involuntary manslaughter due to overconfidence. Article 98 of the 1999 Penal Code, amended and supplemented in 2009, stipulates the crime of involuntary manslaughter: (1) A person who involuntarily causes the death of another person shall be sentenced to imprisonment from six months to five years; (2) A person who commits a crime that causes the death of many people shall be sentenced to imprisonment from three to ten years.

The offender has violated safety rules. These are rules to ensure the safety of human life and health. These rules belong to many different fields, may have been codified or may be just common social rules of conduct that have become living habits, known and acknowledged by everyone...

In case of unintentional overconfidence, the offender realizes that his/her violation is dangerous to society and can cause fatal consequences, but is overconfident that such consequences will not occur, but in reality, such consequences still occur.

Based on the above-mentioned legalized crime, the Director of the Legal Department (Ministry of Health) said that this is not only a warning to those who intentionally violate the law but also a lesson for mothers who want to follow the trend of the "natural birth" method, which is in fact unscientific.

Information about the science of "The Dance of Blossoms" from Phuong Hong's facebook.

Mr. Huy Quang affirmed: Any new method or new technique applied in medical examination and treatment must be recognized by the Ministry of Health. The method of "natural childbirth" is currently not licensed, those who perform or organize the implementation of this method are violating the Law on Medical Examination and Treatment...

Mr. Quang said: "Up to now, all information propagating unscientific customs and methods has been unofficial information spread on social networks."

The Ministry of Health initially determined that the "natural childbirth" method was spread on social networks by a person named Le Nhat Phuong Hong. Phuong Hong's shares on Facebook about the "Dance of the Blossoming Flower" course said that the course will be held for 4 days (June 29-30 and July 1-2, 2018) in Ho Chi Minh City with a tuition fee of 15 million VND for students paying the tuition fee once and 15.2 million VND for students paying the tuition fee in installments (3 times).

Regarding the above issue, Mr. Nguyen Duc Vinh, Director of the Department of Maternal and Child Health, said: "We will coordinate with the police investigation agency to clarify related information."