I don’t call BS on this, I just don’t necessarily agree with their reasoning.
I think the health care community in this country needs to take a serious look at the rate of unnecessary inductions and high c-section (and repeat c-section) rate in this country. Some mothers are scheduling unnecessary inductions for convenience. Many mothers are pushed into inductions or c-sections when they aren’t necessary (and yes, I know some of them are necessary and life saving). Doctors have become so afraid of lawsuits that they won’t let mothers’ bodies do what they need to do. They push deadlines for having babies, deadlines for length of labor. And most refuse to perform VBACs (vaginal birth after cesarean) b/c of the “risks”, yet they fail to acknowledge the risk of major surgery.
We’ve put more limits on childbirth in this country than we have on abortion. It’s sickening. I searched high and low to find a doctor to perform my VBAC when I had my 2nd daughter last year. Couldn’t find one in the area. I finally found a wonderful midwife, who understood my desire for a pregnancy and birth with as little intervention as possible, to attend my homebirth. Best decision I made. And yet, even then there are limits. Many states have restrictions on midwifery. Some of them even make midwife attended home births illegal. My midwife, is is fully trained and licensed in Virginia, was not allowed to prescribe or carry medicine. So if I lost too much blood after the birth she wouldn’t have been able to give me pitocin to stop it. My daughter needed oxygen after the birth (cord issue that would have happened at the hospital too), but she wasn’t allowed to have any with her.
Hmm, I’ve rambled on a bit here. Sorry. A bit passionate about the subject.
We have four boys and had one girl. Our daughter died during childbirth and my wife dang near died.
Why? Because we have standard insurance. We went to the doctor covered by our plan who did everything covered by our plan and no one caught a fairly common blood clotting condition my wife has because our insurance doesn’t cover the test. My wife had complained of some things that just didn’t seem right, but the doctor told us not to worry about it.
After my daughter’s funeral (my wife went full term, went into labor and our daughter died just before being born), we decided to find out what was going on. We went to a specialist and PAID FOR IT OURSELVES.
Expensive? Absolutely not. She described what was going on and the doctor said, “Oh, you need this test.” Sure enough, simple as that, she found out not only what the problem was but that it was easily treated - and needed to be even when she’s not pregnant.
It was a lot less expensive than spending weeks fighting our insurance company (which we eventually dropped), trying to find what doctors they covered (this doctor will not file insurance claims and tells his patients to take care of it themselves) and trying to force the doctor to order a test the insurance company didn’t want to pay for.
We have had 3 healthy boys since, each at a cost less than a funeral. I don’t make a six figure salary, I just take care of my family the best I can. I have a high-cost deductible insurance plan that will keep me from going bankrupt in case of an emergency. Otherwise, I pay for my care, and I always get what I pay for.
If the “author” of this article or amnesty international want to know how to fix the problems, tell them to LET THE MARKET WORK.
“We’ve put more limits on childbirth in this country than we have on abortion. It’s sickening. I searched high and low to find a doctor to perform my VBAC when I had my 2nd daughter last year. Couldn’t find one in the area.”
That’s strange. They’re done in tidewater, so long as you’ve had only one c-section. If you’ve had two, fahgettaboutit.
I agree with your point, though, that there is a stampede toward interventions. It’s almost as if natural childbirth is a bad thing. Which probably explains, in part, the higher mortality rate. I think that the bulk of the rest of it can be explained due to the rotten health of mothers.
Medicine can only do so much and has to work with the hand it’s dealt. If that “hand” is a mother who was already 100 lbs overweight with poor diet who doesn’t show up for prenatal visits, well then the results are predictable.