IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v22y2024i1p3-d1551397.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Use of Haloperidol as a Sedative During Childbirth: An Extreme Form of Obstetric Violence in Spain

Author

Listed:
  • Ibone Olza

    (European Institute of Perinatal Mental Health, Association El Parto es Nuestro (Birth is Ours), 11406 Jerez de la Frontera, Spain)

  • Oscar Quintela

    (Department of Legal Medicine, Psychiatry and Pathology, Complutense University of Madrid, 28043 Madrid, Spain)

  • Araceli García-Martínez

    (European Institute of Perinatal Mental Health, Association El Parto es Nuestro (Birth is Ours), 11406 Jerez de la Frontera, Spain)

Abstract

Obstetric violence during pregnancy and childbirth is unfortunately a major problem throughout the world. Neuroleptanalgesia is a classic form of analgesia which consists in administering analgesics and neuroleptics, such as haloperidol, simultaneously. Haloperidol is still occasionally used during childbirth and, in most cases, without informed consent in Spain. It is used with the excuse of being an antiemetic, but the reality is that it is a form of obstetric violence called chemical submission. The combination of haloperidol with opioids leads to a potentiation of the sedative effects of both drugs, which may lead to multiplied risks for both mother and baby. At present, the use of haloperidol during childbirth is a practice exclusive to Spain. In fact, the association El Parto es Nuestro (Birth Is Ours) launched an awareness campaign in February 2021 aimed at eradicating the use of haloperidol during childbirth without informed consent. The present essay aims to bring awareness about the ongoing practice of using haloperidol. It is of great importance to eradicate this practice that is so harmful to mothers and their babies, as well as educate health personnel regarding this situation.

Suggested Citation

  • Ibone Olza & Oscar Quintela & Araceli García-Martínez, 2024. "The Use of Haloperidol as a Sedative During Childbirth: An Extreme Form of Obstetric Violence in Spain," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 22(1), pages 1-9, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:22:y:2024:i:1:p:3-:d:1551397
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/22/1/3/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/22/1/3/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:22:y:2024:i:1:p:3-:d:1551397. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.