Henci, please tell me if I'm off my mark here . . .

Notwithstanding the perinatal/neonatal equivocation . . . The chart that she generated refers to DEMs when the CDC refers only to "Other Midwives."  From my understanding, the CDC gathers this data from birth certificates.  A number of states are still using the 1989 birth certificates, which do not specify birth attendants or whether or not a home birth was planned or unplanned.  (The notorious but well-debunked Pang study of Washington State home births attempted to extrapolate the same homebirth-is-dangerous conclusions from the same data).  Even with the newer 2003 birth certificates, the CDC is still getting limited data.  The category of "other midwives" is not a guarantor of planned out-of-hospital births overseen by NARM-certified midwives.  Just some thoughts . . .