Background
Marsden Wagner was born in 1930 in San Francisco.
Marsden Wagner was born in 1930 in San Francisco.
He studied at the University of California at Los Angeles, earning an Doctor of Medicine, clinical specialty training in pediatrics, perinatology (neonatology and obstetrics) and an advanced scientific degree in perinatal science.
He was an outspoken supporter of midwifery. The 1985 World Health Organization study Having a Baby in Europe, for which he was chair of the working party, was based on survey responses from 23 European countries and revealed great differences in practises. With extensive experience in maternity care in industrialized countries, including midwifery and the appropriate use of technology during pregnancy and birth, he consulted and lectured in over 50 countries and gave testimony before the United States Congress, British Parliament, French National Assembly, Italian Parliament, Russian Parliament and others
Wagner was an outspoken supporter of midwifery.
In 1995 he published an article in The Lancet describing a "global witch-hunt" against home birth. In a 1997 article he described how his dissatisfaction with the medical establishment developed during his graduate studies and led to his further study in public health and eventually to his advocacy for midwives.