Interesting article about female OBs who choose CS - Page 2

[Turquesa]

Turquesa, you mention this quote:
Frederick Matthias Alexander: “Choice is: The power to make a decision based on reason and discrimination rather than on fear or habit.”
i think this is a great quote, but when it comes to the birth of our child, can any of us say there is not a fair amount of fear tied into it, be it fear of the hospital or fear of "complications?"

Absolutely! The quote represents an ideal, not a reality. I don't think the reality is totally unattainable, though. Just as one example, I'd like to see an informed consent form detailing the risks elective repeat cesarean . . . because docs and hospitals sure have no problem using them to intimidate women seeking VBAC's.

What I hate about the whole talk of "choice" is the double standard depending on who is doing the talking: elective c-section is about mothers' choice according to ACOG, but homebirth is a "fad." And if you talk to many hb supporters, elective c-sections should be banned because they are not the "right" choice. Either women have the right to make their birth choices or they don't. Period.

There's no better way to market a good or service than to repackaged it as a free choice.

As to home birth being a fad, are you referring to ACOG's profoundly sexist statement?

Women, of course, aren't smart enough to choose home birth based on the facts and evidence of its safety for low-risk pregnancy, or based on the egregious, non-scientific interventions employed in hospitals. We just want home birth because it's as "fashionable" and "trendy" as the latest Prada purse . . .

[honeybunch2k8]

Originally Posted by tpintsch

Having worked for an health insurance company I personally would like to see all elective c-sections as denied for not medically necessary. Sitting back and watching home birth's and midwives as typically non-covered expenses, I don't understand why a health insurance company would pay twice as much for a birth when it could have been done cheaper and with less of a chance of far reaching (costly) re-occuring medical issues. I know this is an odd angle to take, but it feels much the same as some insurance companies denying circ's due to it being a cosmetic procedure. Sorry if I offended anyone, but I can't believe that people would choose a method of birth that has been medically proven to be the most risky type of birth to have.

Though I don't work in the health insurance biz, I've been pondering on that issue.

I can understand why an OB would want a c-section (not saying I approve or disapprove). They probably see birth gone wrong all day and are trying to spare themselves. That being said, maybe they don't realize that c-section or traumatic birth in hospital aren't the only options available.

[knitted_in_the_wom]

When discussions like this start I think of Dr. Berman the urologist on Discovery Health's show with her sister.

Dr. Berman apparently had a large first baby with a lot of tearing, so determined to have an elective cesarean for her second baby. Prior to that birth she was a vocal advocate for planned cesarean to prevent pelvic floor damage, urinary incontinence....

After her cesarean she was asked on Good Morning America, or The Today Show, or one of those shows, about her recovery. Her statement was "I didn't realize it was going to hurt so much."

I didn't hear of her being so much an advocate of planned cesarean after that.

[maiaminna]

I think lumping elective c-section and homebirth together under the term "birth choices" might be the wrong way to go about things anyway. There is a difference between the "choice" to have non-medically indicated surgery (or other interventions) vs. to refuse such things - which should be a basic right.

[gemasita]

It makes me angry that almost all women are required to abide by the nonsense created by MDs, but MDs won't abide by their own nonsense. If you labor in a hospital, you are prevented from eating because of decisions made by some committee. If you live in a state where homebirth is illegal, your options are seriously limited and you even risk losing your child to CPS if you birth at home, because of some rot that MDs came up with. But if you're a female OB, you feel perfectly ok using your power and privilege to go against your own professional association's recommendations about elective c-sections. You do it because you can, and you don't stop a minute to think about all the other women who are prevented from have the birth they want because of the actions of your profession.

VERY well said!

One of my current clients is an OB/GYN resident using the midwives at her hospital.

[lwuertz]

Several of you put forth the argument that basically because OBs see so many crises births that they think of birth as being more risky. I was going to try and do the multi quote thing, but that would be most of my post.

I just wanted to say that I tend to agree with this idea. In a similar way, there are tons of studies that show people who watch more news tend to perceive that there is more crime in their neighborhood or that the world isn't as safe a place. As a former professional journalist, I remember feeling this way about the world because one of my jobs was to listen to the police/fire scanner for "newsworthy" information. I remember about a month after I started that job being so afraid to drive. I thought I was definitely going to get in a car accident everyday because I heard about so many of them on the scanner.

[honeybunch2k8]

One more thing- OBs in the U.S. aren't required to watch numerous normal, physiological births in their training like is required in some other countries (Holland?). I guess that doesn't help, either.

Maybe they just need to sit down and watch the physiological births on youtube. I do.