Search results for "Medical treatments"

Low-risk isn’t no-risk: Perinatal treatments and the health of low-income newborns

2019

We investigate the effects of perinatal medical treatments on low-income newborns who are classified as low-risk. A policy rule in The Netherlands states that low-risk deliveries before week 37 should be supervised by physicians and later deliveries only by midwives with no physician present. This creates large discontinuities in the probability of receiving medical interventions only physicians are allowed to perform. Using a regression discontinuity design, we find that babies born slightly before the week-37 cutoff are significantly less likely to die than babies born slightly later. Our data suggest that physician supervision of birth reduces the likelihood of adverse events such as fet…