Comprehensive Privacy Policy
Sacred birth work requires unflinching trust. We honor your personal, physiological, and perinatal health data with the highest clinical and global privacy benchmarks.
01 Practice Scope & Privacy Covenant
MaternalSupportCo ("the Practice", "we", "us", or "our"), operated by Head Doula Vanya, CD(DONA), CLC, is committed to safeguarding the intimate privacy, human dignity, and physiological confidentiality of every birthing person, partner, and infant in our care.
Doula care encompasses continuous emotional, physical, and informational perinatal support throughout pregnancy, labor, delivery, and the fourth trimester postpartum window. Because our care necessarily involves sensitive disclosures—including past reproductive histories, pelvic sensations, psychological boundaries, and family dynamics—we hold your data to the most stringent medical and ethical confidentiality standards.
Professional Non-Clinical Scope Disclaimer
Doulas are certified non-clinical perinatal support specialists. A doula does not perform clinical tasks, vaginal exams, fetal heart monitoring, medical diagnoses, or deliver babies. The health information collected through our intake portal and consultation sessions serves exclusively to tailor physical comfort measures, advocate for your birth preferences, and coordinate emotional presence.
02 Perinatal Health Information & HIPAA Notice
Under the United States Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) and 45 CFR § 160.103, solo birth doulas and private doula support practices that do not transmit electronic healthcare transactions to third-party insurance payers are legally designated as Non-Covered Entities.
Our Voluntary Gold Standard: While exempt from statutory covered-entity classification, MaternalSupportCo voluntarily adheres to the foundational tenets of the HIPAA Privacy and Security Rules. We apply administrative, technical, and physical safeguards equivalent to hospital systems to protect all Protected Health Information (PHI) and Perinatal Sensitive Data (PSD).
Scope of Perinatal Health Disclosures (Document 02 Integration)
Through our paperless onboarding portal (Document 02: HIPAA & Medical Privacy Authorization), you grant explicit, revocable permission for MaternalSupportCo to communicate with designated clinical care teams:
- Attending Obstetricians (OB/GYN) & Certified Professional Midwives (CPM/CNM)
- Hospital Labor & Delivery (L&D) and Triage nursing personnel
- Hospital/Private IBCLC Lactation Consultants and Neonatal Care Teams
- Community Pediatricians and Family Medicine Physicians
Zero Unauthorized Clinical Transmission: We will never disclose your cervical dilation, contraction patterns, membrane status, or medical history to any family member, employer, or outside party without your express, real-time verbal or written command.
03 US State Health Privacy Laws & Absolute Non-Sale Guarantee
Recent state privacy statutes grant elevated, uncompromising protections to reproductive, prenatal, and perinatal healthcare records. MaternalSupportCo strictly complies with all state health-data enactments, including:
Washington MHMDA
Washington My Health My Data Act: Prohibits collection or processing of consumer health data without opt-in consent; bans geofencing around birth centers and clinics.
California CCPA / CPRA
California Consumer Privacy Act: Treats pregnancy, reproductive health, and anatomical data as Sensitive Personal Information (SPI) with strict limitation rights.
Nevada SB 370
Enforces comprehensive consumer health data rights, requiring explicit authorizations and direct rights to full data deletion.
Absolute Zero-Commercialization & Non-Sale Guarantee
We will never sell, rent, lease, monetize, license, or trade your perinatal records, due dates, contact details, or birth stories to data brokers, formula manufacturers, advertising exchanges, or pharmaceutical marketers. Your family's data belongs exclusively to your family.
04 GDPR / UK GDPR & International Data Rights
For clients residing in or protected by the European Union General Data Protection Regulation (EU GDPR) or UK GDPR, MaternalSupportCo acts as a Data Controller. We process your data exclusively under the following lawful bases:
| Data Category | Lawful Basis (Art. 6) | Special Category (Art. 9) |
|---|---|---|
| Name, Phone, Email, Address, Delivery Venue | Contractual Necessity (Art. 6(1)(b)) for delivering doula care | Not applicable |
| Due Date, Parity, Cesarean/VBAC History, Allergies | Explicit Informed Consent (Art. 6(1)(a)) | Explicit Consent for Health Data (Art. 9(2)(a)) |
| Emergency Contacts & Acute Medical Liaisons | Vital Interests (Art. 6(1)(d)) in labor emergencies | Vital Interests of Parent & Neonate (Art. 9(2)(c)) |
Your International Statutory Rights
Right of Access (Art. 15)
Request an encrypted copy of all personal intake notes, birth preference matrices, and signature records.
Right to Rectification (Art. 16)
Update or correct gestational dates, pediatric provider changes, or changing labor preferences anytime.
Right to Erasure (Art. 17)
Request immediate permanent deletion ("Right to Be Forgotten") of non-statutory records following care completion.
Right to Data Portability (Art. 20)
Receive your complete electronic dossier in structured, standard machine-readable formats (.json or .txt).
05 Information We Collect & How It Is Utilized
We collect personal and health information strictly through two voluntary channels: our website initial consultation wizard (index.html#booking) and the encrypted paperless onboarding portal (portal.html).
1. Initial Discovery & Booking Intake
- Contact & Location: Full name, telephone number, email address, neighborhood/municipality.
- Perinatal Timeline: Estimated Due Date (EDD), primipara/multipara status, anticipated delivery location (hospital, birth center, or home).
- Family Notes & Cultural Values: Personal hopes, partner involvement priorities, and custom birth visions.
2. Comprehensive Onboarding Documents (Portal)
- Document 01 (Services Agreement): Financial installment schedule, on-call availability terms, scope agreement.
- Document 02 (HIPAA Release): Specific authorizations for your OB/GYN, midwife, and nursing teams.
- Document 03 (Medical & Prenatal Intake): Obstetric history (gravida, para, cesareans, VBAC), blood type, Rh factor, GBS status, placenta location, allergies, trauma-informed physical comfort touch boundaries.
- Document 04 (Birth Preferences Matrix): Non-pharmacological preferences (hydrotherapy, TENS, breathing, counter-pressure), epidural stance, Golden Hour requests.
- Document 05 (Postpartum Sanctuary): Infant feeding intentions, visitor rules, daytime/overnight shift schedules.
- Document 06 (Photo Release): Explicit tier selection governing whether any labor/infant photography is permitted.
06 Photography & Digital Privacy Tiers
The birth space is sacred. Photographs taken during labor and immediate postpartum recovery are among the most intimate visual artifacts an individual can create. Through Document 06 in our Client Portal, we operate an enforceable 4-Tier Consent Architecture:
Tier 1: Strictly Private
Zero photography. The doula's camera remains powered off throughout labor, birth, and home visits.
Tier 2: Personal Family Use
Doula captures moments on the client's own phone or delivers high-res raw files exclusively to parents.
Tier 3: Anonymized Portfolio
Artistic hands-on support shots only. Faces of parent and baby are strictly cropped or obscured; requires prior review.
Tier 4: Full Release
Permits promotional and website storytelling with final written sign-off by the parents prior to publication.
Revocation Anytime: You retain the unilateral right to downgrade or revoke your photographic consent tier at any moment, including mid-labor, with immediate and unconditional compliance.
07 Cryptographic Retention, Storage & Disposal
MaternalSupportCo enforces strict data life-cycle protocols to prevent persistent, unnecessary storage of your sensitive birth documents:
Active Support Phase (Pregnancy through 12 Weeks Postpartum)
Your active intake forms, birth plans, and labor notes are maintained in AES-256 encrypted digital storage and password-protected, biometrically secured mobile devices accessible only to Head Doula Vanya.
Postpartum Archival & Statutory Retention
Following your final postpartum visit and closing debrief, active dossiers are archived. In accordance with professional liability insurance and financial accounting statutes:
- Financial & Contractual Records: Retained for 7 years as required by federal tax and commercial law.
- Birth Notes & Clinical Communication Logs: Retained for statutory periods governed by state medical liability limitations, safeguarding both family and doula.
- Early Deletion Requests: Clients may request cryptographic shredding of non-statutory personal questionnaires and birth reflections at any time following the 4th trimester.
08 Sub-Processors, Backup Doulas & Emergency Disclosures
We operate with minimal digital footprint. We only engage sub-processors that guarantee enterprise-grade encryption and privacy compliance:
- FormSubmit Backend: Serverless HTTPS transmission directly routing intake inquiries to our verified encrypted inbox (
rs905128@gmail.com). Data is not sold or repurposed. - Calendly Integration: Optional scheduling interface for free 30-minute discovery calls. No medical or obstetrical history is ingested by the calendar.
- Backup Doula Covenant: In the rare event of acute illness or simultaneous labors requiring backup doula activation, your birth preferences matrix is shared solely with the designated, approved backup doula who has executed an identical non-disclosure and HIPAA-aligned privacy covenant.
- Emergency Clinical Disclosures: In life-threatening maternal or neonatal emergencies where the client is incapacitated, relevant physiological facts (e.g., known drug allergies, placental complications) may be conveyed directly to emergency medical response personnel under emergency health proxy doctrines.
09 Exercising Your Privacy Rights & Contact Information
You maintain complete ownership of your personal narrative and physiological records. To request an export of your signed intake packet, correct your contact records, withdraw consent, or file a confidentiality inquiry, contact our dedicated privacy lead:
MaternalSupportCo — Data Privacy & Perinatal Safeguards
Practice Principal: Vanya, CD(DONA), CLC
Direct Inquiries: hello@maternalsupportco.com
Transmission Inbox: rs905128@gmail.com
Telephone: (555) 382-7491
Office Location: Serving Seattle & Greater Eastside Metro Area, WA
We respond to all verified privacy access, export, or deletion requests within thirty (30) calendar days in full compliance with US and international privacy standards.