^I worked in US and saw way more birth injuries there than in the UK.
One big problem there is that if I as a nurse were to question or challenge a doctor I could be sacked pretty quick.^
This is probably very much a local quirk.
Also, you could have 50 doctors with admitting privileges to one obstetric unit, all with their own ideas and foibles. If a woman came in almost in second stage you had to hope for the best that the OB would get there quickly. Back then ( don't know if it is better now) if the nurse ended up delivering the baby, the insurance would quibble about the fees. The doctors would be very put out if they didn't get their money.
The nurse would be very unlikely to do the delivery unless a woman arrived about to deliver in triage. In a great many hospitals you are at guaranteed at least a resident.
I had five deliveries in the US. The first two times my own OB was present for the delivery, in a university hospital. The third baby was delivered by a resident in obstetrics.
I had private insurance. The fee for the entire OB service from first visit to delivery and beyond that to the six week checkup for all three babies even though my OB couldn't get to the third delivery in time was $3,900 a pop.
The hospital also billed - there were room charges, delivery room charges, charges for all sorts of services and medications, from changing sheets to an IV, and the babies also generated charges. The hospital bill was far higher than the doctors' bills. Then on top of that there was an anesthesiologist bill for my first DC.
OTOH, if you were poor, unemployed or black you might be lucky to get through A and E in a government hospital, or you might get poor care or no care at all. Some poor women couldn't afford prenatal care, so already at risk.
Not so.
I had my last two babies with public insurance, through a state administered programme called Kidcare. I delivered my fourth baby in the same university hospital, under the care of the same OB team for my entire pregnancy. As with DC3, a resident was present for the birth itself.
All pregnant women lacking private maternity insurance, including undocumented immigrants (in most states) can qualify for full maternity coverage and coverage for their babies up to age 4 (maybe older).
For DC5, again with Kidcare, my OB practice had moved to a hospital too hard for me to get to so I switched to a midwifery practice in a local hospital. I had continuity of care from the first visit through to the delivery and post natal checkup. I had a private room in the hospital - there are no wards.