Better Birth has (unofficially) responded to the complaints I have compiled on this website. They never directly address the concerns that are brought up on this website. Here are the questions that I wish they had answered (for future patients):
1. What is an appropriate response when an employee of your birth center is accused of sexual misconduct?
2. Do you believe it is appropriate to stop an examination by patient request?
3. If I complain about the treatment I’ve received at your birth center publicly (such as a negative review on yelp), will you attribute it to my mental health status/expectations instead of the behavior of staff?
4. Are you still taking patients with a history of sexual abuse? If you are, how have you changed your policies to accommodate the needs of women with abuse histories?
5. How can you demand that I only complain while misconduct or mistreatment while it is occurring, while also refusing to refund money after labor has begun? I am essentially at the mercy of your staff once labor beings under such an arrangement, and it may make me afraid to complain since I will have to pay both your birth center and the hospital, which could devastate my family financially.
6. There were complaints from doulas and student midwives online. What is your response to complaints from non-patients?
7. What am I supposed to do if my complaint is ignored? Or if I don’t realize something was wrong until after it happened?
8. What have you actually done in response to the criticisms you have received?
Question 8 is of great importance- the whole jist of their response seems to be “We have never done anything illegal and won’t ever”, even though I have evidence of them breaking the law. Here is a screencap of them representing themselves as only employing licensed midwives, and here is a link to utah state code that says misrepresenting a person as a licensed midwife is unlawful conduct. Breaking the law on accident is still breaking the law!
Feel free to email the list of questions to better birth before you go in (or add your own!). I would appreciate anyone posting the response they got in the comments.
To the staff of better birth, if you’re reading- Its never to late to apologize for messing up. I would have accepted a partial refund and apology, and I think most unsatisfied customers would have, too. Learn from your mistakes. It is unacceptable for a birth center to make ridiculous claims about former patient’s mental health to try and discredit patient experiences. All Suzanne Smith has is baseless conjecture from a friend of hers (who has never evaluated me). This is a massive privacy violation that no real health care professional would ever dream of committing.
Shame On Better Birth 
