“We tend in the United States to go with the higher-tech approach to health care—doctors, not midwives, and epidurals, not nitrous oxide—dropping off lower-tech options even though they may still serve a purpose,” Ms. Bishop noted.
Market forces also may play a role in the demise of U.S. use of nitrous oxide for labor, midwife and epidemiologist Judith Rooks suggested in a recent editorial (Birth 2007;34:3-5). “Obstetric use of nitrous oxide in America is similar to that of any older, inexpensive, off-patent, unglamorous, safe and reasonably effective but not highly potent drug. Nitrous oxide is like an 'orphan' drug—little known outside of dentistry, lacking elan and pizzazz, with no companies or influential professional groups that stand to profit by its greater use,” she wrote.
“There is no 'nitrous lobby,'” Ms. Bishop added.