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C-Sections Up Up Up
I heard about the statistics and saw that they have been reported on CNN and commented on by Sarah Karnasiewicz in Salon's Broadsheet, but I can't help but feel that something is missing amidst all the anger and defensive arms akimbo that arrived with the news that in 2004 29.1% of births in the U.S. were C-sections.
The general feeling seems to be that the reason for this is that the medical establishment is a cold manipulative organism, disinclined to help women who are having a difficult time with labor and delivery and afraid of malpractice lawsuits that could result from vaginal deliveries gone wrong.
Maybe so. But I wonder if something else is going on beyond the possibility that thousands of women and their partners are too flustered and frightened and unprepared to stand up for themselves.
There is a lot to be said about how defensive doctors and hospitals have to be. When I was in labor, my doctor sat with me for a couple of hours discussing, among other things, mortality rates in childbirth in the 15th century (50%), and the fact that there is a movement afoot, inspired by patients to create a mandate that doctors must mention that a C-section can be a childbirth choice. Patients apparently have been demanding that they know their options. My doctor tends to think this is strange and frightening and that there's nothing wrong with vaginal deliveries, and I agree, but I suspect there are a lot of women who do not necessarily share my perspective. Sometime during her ultra-documented pregnancy, Britney Spears weighed in, loudly saying that she was terrified of labor and wanted a C-section. Her opinion may seem misguided to me, but some people might say she is simply demanding the "birth she wants."
Do women think of themselves as the victims or potential victims of the medical establishment or do they think that by demanding C-sections when they want them that they are taking charge of their bodies? Neither seems quite right.
All of this makes one thing very clear to me. The insurance industry in the United States is a large-scale disaster and does constant disservice to almost everyone- pregnant or not. It creates situations where people are inclined to ignore their physical and emotional problems because it is too expensive to investigate them (I wrote a little about this on August 31st "Soap Box Interlude"). It would behoove us to try to think of this as not just a question of the victimization of pregnant women, but as a question of why health care in the United States functions so poorly and leaves so many so unhappy, and what we can do about fixing it.
posted by Elise at 11:49 AM
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Sugarmama said...
I know several women who were bitterly disappointed when they ended up having C-sections. I agree with you that 29.1% is clearly too high and a sign that something is wrong with the system, not with the women. On the other hand, I've been very careful not to question my friends' stories and choices when they've told me about their surgical deliveries. It's just too touchy a subject for the women who didn't want things to end up that way. The malpractice scare is probably a big reason for doctors pushing C-section, but on a more grassroots level I would urge women to STOP TELLING PREGNANT WOMEN HOW MUCH YOUR LABOR HURT! It seems like so many women want to blab their labor horror story to any unwitting pregnant woman who crosses their path. I for one heard very few easy birth stories when I was first pregnant (and mine was textbook normal and just fine). I'm not defending Britney Spears here, but it's small wonder that so many women are terrified of labor and delivery!
11/19/2005 1:01 PM
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Sugarmama said...