Thursday, December 11, 2008

Pre-Term Cesarean Birth Article

There was an op-ed piece by a health insurance executive in the Dec. 5th edition of the New Jersey Times called Pre-term Cesarean Birth. The article is a good look at the problems with elective cesarean before term.

A quote:

"Whatever the reason that women have elective C-sections before full term, it's bad for the baby. Recent research reveals that newborns delivered prior to 39 weeks are twice as likely to end up in the NICU than babies born at 39 to 42 weeks. "

1 comment:

Jill Arnold said...

"...we believe that all hospitals should follow ACOG guidelines in their C-section delivery protocols..."

Ten bucks says that their guidelines will get more and more vague as time goes on to save face. Another ten bucks says that everyone knows at least five women that were told that their pelvis would not be able to accommodate their baby and that injury or death could occur.

Prophylactic c-sections for suspected macrosomia are coded as "elective."

Care provider bias against vaginal birth affects everyone.