Question Regarding Medical Files...

[jaclyn7]

I'm not sure where the right place to put this is, but I have a question regarding what is placed in mother's medical file in relation to what she is told by her health practitioner.

A co-worker had a c-section because she was told it was medically necessary, breech, etc. but when looking at her file she saw that it said 'elective' in it.

So, my question is - is this common & legal?

[courtenay_e]

Oh, they can write whatever they want. My husband had MAJOR, take out all the organs to peel a 14 pound tumor off of it, type of surgery. We asked SEVERAL times whether it could compromise his fertility. They thought he was going to die, so told us, "No, no, don't worry about that..." When in fact, the tumor's stalk was placed directly over the nerve that they ended up damaging that affects his fertility. From those THREE DAYS inthe hospital, when we asked EVERY PERSON IN A WHITE COAT (really, I'm not kidding, we were serious about wanting more kids!) if it would be an issue? the ONLY note in his chart is: "All questions asked and answered." Nice.:

[Defenestrator]

A cesarean for breech is elective in the sense that unless you are already in labor, there is no immediate need to perform a c-section. (edited to add -- some of us think there is no need to perform a c-section even when you are in labor)

The word "elective" does seem to imply that the patient was given a choice, though. Often there is really only one choice put on the table by the doctors.

One of my friends went in for some monitoring because she had high blood pressure at the end of her pregnancy. They did a scan, found the baby to be breech, and the OB came in, told her that she had a few choices -- wait and see, doing an external version and then inducing, or immediate c-section. Then he left the room and she asked for a glass of water while she was talking with her husband about her options. "Oh, no, honey, you can't have that," the nurse said, "You're having a c-section tonight!"