Pain Relief during Labor

The pain of childbirth is arguably one of the most severe types of pain a woman will endure in her lifetime. Relief of the pain of childbirth has always been controversial. Misinterpretations of biblical scripture (“In sorrow thou shalt bring forth children”) resulted in centuries of denial of pain relief, as clergy insisted that suffering in labor was consistent with divine intent.1 Fifteenth-century midwives were burned at the stake for offering pain relief during labor.2 The modern era of anesthetics began with the first demonstration of inhalational anesthesia during surgery at the Massachusetts General Hospital in 1846; a few months . . .