Photography During Labor and Delivery

Hospital Bans Photography Until Baby Is Five Minutes Old

December 29, 2010

Hold off on that hospital photo shoot! Baby's first picture is a keepsake that mamas hold onto forever, but just how soon after birth can the camera be used? While many laboring moms assign photographer duties to a friend or family member to capture their lil one's arrival, a hospital in western Maryland is putting a delay on that first image with a new policy prohibiting video and still photography of deliveries until five minutes after the baby's arrival. According to the hospital, the rule is intended to "protect patient privacy and reduce potential staff distractions."

Would a hospital's photography rules factor into your decision to deliver there?

Source: Getty

17 Comments

2 years 20 weeks

My gut is this is not the hospital's main motivation, just a spin put on the new policy. As others have suggested, malpractice fear is most likely the reason. We were not allowed to film my child's birth - our hospital's policy we only learned about moments before he was born. How sad that we were not able to capture his very first moments.

2 years 20 weeks

I don't think this has anything to do with evidence of malpractice. Unless you have the intention to take pictures of the procedure and equipment (which isn't really what about-to-be-new parents photograph), I doubt any of the pictures would actual "reveal" malpractice. I think it's fair to assume that a delivery room (and even more so with a c-section) is a place essentially meant for medical intervention. While many births today go pretty well, birthing is potentially dangerous. You really can't always predict if things will go smoothly or not and if they don't... then Dr's need to focus their attention on attending to a patient urgently, not on kicking the "paparrazi" out before.

TheBestRedDress 2 years 20 weeks

And yet another reason for a having a baby in a birthing center, mid-wife, doula and AWAY from the U.S. it's not about you or your child it's about the money and malpractice suits. They can sell that crap to someone drinking the Kool-Aid.

2 years 20 weeks

I think it's awful. My first child was born in 2003, by c-section, and her whole birth is on video. My second child was born in 2006, also by c-section, and we weren't allowed to even bring a still camera in his room. Then he had to go to NICU, so we didn't get a picture till he was 8 hours old. We had both children at the same hospital.

chicagojlo 2 years 20 weeks

I'm sure that somewhere on record there is a lawsuit someone filed against the hospital for this. That's pretty much the only reason for any of these policies. So thank Mr or Mrs Where's my Payday for that.

2 years 20 weeks

I'm glad my dr and nurses never said "Make sure we're not in the pictures." They were in the middle of the birth, they had to be in some pictures. Actually, my dr and L&D nurses always posed for photos with the babies after they were born, and those photos were sent to them for their wall of patients displayed in the offices/nurses station. Now, it would be totally wrong to put those on the internet without their permission, or sell them for some reason, but they're still in the pictures of the delivery, and in the baby books. Much like the person who officiates a wedding, it's simply a part of the job that people are going to want to document it and you'll be somewhat in the photos.

2 years 20 weeks

Our hospitals policy around photographs is that you cannot take pictures of procedures, and to please be aware that you aren't taking photos of staff. I don't need a picture of my epidural being done (4th l&d coming up within a month and I've never had one anyway) and it seems like that most basic of common sense that nurses don't want pictures of themselves floating all over the world. I wonder if maybe some people were coming in with full crews with lights and all, but sadly, I agree 100% that it's just for legal and self protection reasons :( And yes, I'm curious why the above poster feels no pics should be taken within the first 24 hours.

amber512 2 years 20 weeks

I definitely wouldn't want to give birth at a hospital with that rule!

2 years 20 weeks

I'm very curious as to jimmynorton's "24 hours is good" idea and the reasoning behind not having any photos of your child in their first 24 hours as a rule for every mother giving birth in the hospital. I'd love to hear how this protects the patient's privacy and reduces distractions to the staff, considering the staff is pretty much done with everything pretty quickly after a routine delivery. They're not even in the room much after that, except for checks that take a few minutes. Heck, a lot of women go home within 24 hours, so that rule would mean they can't take photo of them preparing the baby for their first ride home. That's logical.

2 years 20 weeks

screw THAT crap!!

2 years 20 weeks

I totally feel this is more to do with keeping mistakes from being revealed. 5 minutes is doing nothing for a patients privacy. I wonder if this hospital has many complaints/malpractice suit going against them right now for incidents that have happened immediately happened after delivery. It seems there is more to their reasoning in doing this, but they don't want to state it. As far as patients privacy... most likely the patient has put someone in charge of the camera and has already instructed them to not be taking photos until a certain time. The only part that I can see being a remotely good idea, is maybe restricting flash photography until a certain point, as to not distract the staff from doing their jobs. But otherwise I think there is NO reason that has anything to do with the patient.

Rebecca M Gruber 2 years 20 weeks

I cherish those photos of my kids' first moments! I'm sure it is a liability issue. I have heard of hospitals that don't allow video recording, only still photography, but this was the first time I'd heard of this!

2 years 20 weeks

I'm in agreement that it's to cover the hospital and doctor's butts! There's no other good reason to restrict video or still photography before, during or after birth! Find another hospital!

kmckay 2 years 20 weeks

Theres more to this story than patient privacy. Anyone who has given birth knows that privacy isn't something you get a whole lot of during labor!! Also, my favorite picture is the one my husband manages to capture while I was holding my daughter for the 1st time. She was probably 20 seconds old and I wouldn't trade that image!!

jimmynorton 2 years 20 weeks

This is not enough at least 24 hours is good

2 years 20 weeks

"Protect patient privacy"? That's a joke. That five minutes won't protect the patient at all, they'd have been photographed throughout labor and delivery, just not in a random five minute window chosen by lawyers. If the patient has given permission for photography and video, what difference does that five minutes make? I agree it's to cover their own asses, and I think it's crappy. The only possible reason to not document the moments immediately after birth is to avoid documentation of the medical actions performed in that time. Damn straight I'd avoid a hospital whose top priority was to make sure their mistakes aren't captured on film.