Perinatal mortality: is home a safer place?

An immediate reduction in perinatal mortality could be achieved by reversing the policy which seeks to ensure that all births take place in consultant obstetric units. This is the logical consequence of the argument presented by Marjorie Tew, research associate in the department of surgery, Nottingham University Medical School, which is based on a statistical study of the various risk factors sometimes assumed to account for the higher crude perinatal mortality rates found in these units.