Hospitals are under attack from staff and patients for trying to stop large numbers of women from having epidural painkillers during childbirth.
An epidural, an anaesthetic injected into the spine, is seen by many mothers as a welcome and legitimate way of coping with the often extreme pain of childbirth.
However, under targets now being introduced into NHS trusts,epidurals are stigmatised as abnormal. One senior obstetrician condemned the implications of this policy as a ?disgrace?.
The controversial restrictions, promoted by the ?natural childbirth? lobby, aim drastically to reduce the number of women having epidurals, caesareans or other artificial procedures to 40%.
In some hospitals the proportion of first-time mothers now having epidurals is far higher at 60%.
