Cesarean Information
- When a cesarean is necessary, it can be a lifesaving technique for both mother and baby, and worth the risks involved.
- One in three to four births is a cesarean, with some hospitals reporting as high as one in two. This represents a 400% increase in less than 15 years. This cesarean rate increase has not led to an improvement in the infant mortality and morbidity rates but instead has put mothers and babies at greater risk. Rates began to fall in the mid-1990s, but are rising again in the new millennium.
- The cesarean section rate remains at an alarmingly higher rate than the 15% average recommended by the World Health Organization. WHO estimates that half (50%) of all cesarean sections performed in the United States are unnecessary.
- The natality statistics released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows that cesarean delivery rates were up for the third year in a row in 1999, reversing a steady decline between 1989 and 1995. Cesarean births accounted for 22 percent of the 3.9 million live births in 1999.
- A cesarean poses documented medical risks to the mother's health, including infections, hemorrhage, transfusion, hysterectomy, embolism, injury to other organs, anesthesia complication, psychological complications. One-half of all cesarean women suffer complications, and the mortality rate is at least two to four times that of women with vaginal births. Approximately 180 women die annually in the United States from elective repeat cesareans.
- Each successive cesarean greatly increases the risk of developing placenta previa and/or placenta accreta in subsequent pregnancies. Both of these complications pose life-threatening risks to mother and baby. Cesareans also increase the odds of infertility and ectopic pregnancy in subsequent pregnancies.
- An elective cesarean section increases the risk to the infant of premature birth and respiratory distress syndrome, both of which are associated with multiple complications, intensive care and burdensome financial cost. Even with mature babies, the absence of labor increases the risk of breathing problems and other complications. Far from doing better, babies born by cesarean fare worse than those born vaginally.
- Cesareans can delay the opportunity for early mother-newborn interaction, breastfeeding, and the establishment of family bonds.
- Cesarean rates are influenced by nonmedical factors. These include: individual philosophy and training, convenience of doctor or patient, the patient's socioeconomic status, peer pressure, fear of litigation, and
financial gain.
- Obstetricians offer defensive medicine as an excuse for the astronomical U.S. cesarean rate. Deliberately performing unnecessary surgery in the belief it avoids lawsuits is indefensible. That many obstetricians seem oblivious to the profound violation of ethical principles is shocking.
- Vaginal Birth After Cesarean (VBAC) is safer for both mother and infant, in most cases, than is routine elective cesarean, which is major surgery.
- The risk to your infant from the very low incidence of uterine rupture (less than 1%) is much less than the risk to your infant from respiratory distress as a result of a scheduled cesarean.
- Many indications for cesarean can and should be questioned, including cephalopelvic disproportion, (CPD or baby too big, pelvis too small), dystocia, failure to progress, breech, etc.
- This information is found in well-respected medical journals and government publications including the National Institute of Health (NIH) taskforce report on cesarean childbirth published in 1982
