Preparing for Birth Can Be a Lot Harder Than It Seems
Posted by Laurie
Mom fights, gets the delivery she wants was the headline on CNN.com just a few days ago. I was disheartened to read about Joy Szabo’s dilemma. She changed her doctor and hospital just three weeks before her due date because the hospital refused to allow her to have a vaginal birth after having had a prior C-section (a VBAC). The VBAC runs a slightly higher risk of complications, but is commonly done across the country by trained physicians.
Joy did get the vaginal birth she wanted in the end, but they had to move six hours away from Page, Arizona to Phoenix to give birth at a hospital that permits VBACs.
This article got me thinking about how Joy discovered this no-VBAC policy seven months into her pregnancy. I’m surprised she didn’t ask about this when picking her doctor for this pregnancy.
But, even if she didn’t ask, isn’t this the kind of information that an OB-GYN should be required to share with his or her patients who’ve had a prior caesarian?
When a hospital has a policy against VBACs, shouldn’t that be in their literature and promotional material for their maternity ward?
Answer this!
Then, the lawyer part of my head started thinking, if these hospitals receive state and/or federal funding in any way, isn’t there a way the government could require that the VBAC service be offered in hospitals of a certain size? It’s relatively easy for a pregnant woman to find the right doctor and hospital if she lives in a big city like New York, Chicago or Denver, but what about smaller cities and towns? Should pregnant women be denied important services and options just because there is only one hospital in town? Shouldn’t there be at least one hospital within an hour drive that offers a VBAC?
If certain hospitals refuse VBACs because of fear of lawsuits from complications, shouldn’t this be discussed and confronted by our legislators and women’s organizations? How much do lawsuits from VBACs really cost hospitals? I’ve never seen those numbers and I would like to. How serious and frequent do the complications from a particular procedure need to be before it is justifiable to categorically deny the procedure to all women?
I’m pleased that this mother’s story is getting headlines, but I hope the anger it has sparked creates more than a fleeting interest.
Do you think it is wrong to deny a woman a VBAC? When you picked your obstetrician, did you ask him/her about the C-section rates for his/her practice and hospital? Did the answer affect your decisions?
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This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 29th, 2009 at 8:19 am and is filed under Baby Prep. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response.
I have mixed feelings on this one. Women certainly need to have a say on how they want their birth to be handled, but I’m also distressed at the trend towards women second guessing medical advice. I once attended a funeral for a stillborn baby whose mother insisted, against her doctors pleasing wishes, to deny an induction despite carrying her baby for 43 weeks and despite the medical evidence that her placenta was disintegrating. However, if this woman’s doctor felt that in her particular case a VBAC was too risky, this should have been discussed much earlier on. It’s tough to say who is at fault for that. I discussed these things with my doctor while in my first trimester.
If one’s doctor thinks a VBAC is too risky for a particular woman, that’s one thing, but if a hospital thinks a commonly done procedure is too risky for ALL women, that’s something that needs to be discussed and questioned. Laurie.
Jennifer, going AMA is one thing, being educated is another. Educated women don’t sit on their hands and let their doctors spew bullshit.
Doctors smile and nod to keep you as patients, then pull shit on you in your third trimester figuring you wont be strong enough to argue. Considering how rare this sort of story is, it works.
In answer to your question, Laurie, my doctor told me I was a good candidate for a VBAC, so now that I’m in a new city, I chose a practice where all the doctors felt comfortable performing a VBAC. That said, each one is very clear at introduction about the risk: “please understand that there is a very small chance of very serious consequences.”
All along I have been struggling to make a calculation on the risk from a complication from a VBAC vs. the standard complications of a c-section — it seems to me like the malpractice concerns and just the sheer convenience of a scheduled c-section, must affect a doctor’s advice.
I live in Key West where there is only ONE hospital with a L&D unit, the next hospital is Miami, 3 hours away!!!
I am now pregnant with my 3rd baby and considering Home Birth because there is a ban on VBACs at the local hospital. My OB admits there is not MEDICAL reason I need a repeat c-section they just “don’t do them here”
I am PISSED, the only medical facility available to me has decided that if I want medical attention from them I have to be cut open for NO REASON other than it’s in their best interest.
funny, I thought the Hippocratic oath states that a Doctor will “consider for the benefit of the patient and abstain from whatever is harmful or mischievous” Hmmm, unnecessary surgery is NOT beneficial and DOES cause harm!
How do I trust a medical professional that willfully violates the very oath they are supposed to live by?
I’m excited! Reports of new guidelines encouraging VBACs!
“We found the use of VBAC is certainly a safe alternative for the majority of women who’ve had one prior”
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/11/health/11birth.html?emc=eta1