I absolutely agree with you that there are way too many C-sections. What I AM saying is that a large majority of them are done to cover the Dr. butt in case anything is wrong with the baby(besides a large number being done for the “convenience” of parents who want to have their child on a certain day). I’m afraid that much of the high cost of medical care, interventions, etc. is all being done for this reason. I worked with a nurse anesthestist who was 27 when she got pregnant. No hx. of anything unusual and the Dr. did not recommend an amniocentesis. She then had a Down’s baby and sued for all he was worth because he hadn’t done the amnio. Medical professionals are damned if they do and damned if they don’t use “interventions”. What would you recommend?
“What would you recommend?”
Complete privatization of the whole medical profession.
Get all government money out of the birthing business, and watch the prices come down and normalize. Let parents pay out of pocket for those C-sections the same way that women pay for cosmetic surgery.
The market is king in every endeavor, especially in healing, and the market will ALWAYS balance buyers and sellers more efficiently and effectively than government rules and regs. Sure, that will mean docs and hospitals will earn less, but when parents are paying doctors directly for services, the whole behemoth will crumble down to something affordable and managable.
If parents want to hire a six thousand dollar midwife and have a home birth, let them pay for that service out of pocket.
And if parents want to give birth alone with no professionals present, all power to them. Many parents are terrified to give birth alone out of concern that the medical gestapo will come rip the family apart if anything goes wrong.
Freedom is the answer to all of these problems. Freedom and personal responsibility.
The fact that we are moving towards socializing the whole mess just sends chills down my spine. Doctor accountability will be gone when the red tape of government beauraucracy steps completely in between the patient/doctor relationship, hospitals will have every incentive possible to vamp up the tests, procedures, and interventions, and ignorant parents will think they are getting it all for “free” while the good taxpayers of America are soaked in yet another nationalized government mess.
I recomend all parents get the hell out of the hospital as American Birth gets socialized. Then when it all collapses as it is doing in the UK right now, be ready to step in with ideas and evidence for a market approach to the birthing industry.
That is what I recomend.
Jenny