Does swearing increase pain?

In Møre og Romsdal, a Norwegian county, a woman had been in labour for hours when she uttered a phrase which may be translated into English as;

Fucking hell, it's so fucking painful!

The midwife then came up to her, bent down and told the woman no swearing would be tolerated in the delivery room, and she had better behave as she was told.

"Lying there calling upon the Devil will only bring more pain, and then I deserve a difficult birth. But if we want to, we could turn to someone else and all pray to him together. Then it might go well after all," the woman remembers being told.

It wasn't the only mistake the midwife made, and the authorities have started looking into it.


You're in more pain than you can ever imagine. When you once, one time, express your pain you're told that your choice of words means you don't deserve any better - and this by the person who is supposed to help you get through it. And then they ask you to pray?

I don't know which of those would offend me more...