Which baby was delivered vaginally, and which was extracted from a C-section?
The mystery of childbirth is no longer a mystery for me after reading this article. No detail is too small for Dr. Gawande in his description of how each of us came to first breathe on our own, be it via vaginal birth or C-section. Rourke intended to deliver her baby at the hospital without any medication. Unfortunately for her, exhaustion and pain led her to finally agree to surgery. I wonder, had she waited any longer for surgical intervention, what might have happened? Would her own health and her baby's health have been compromised had she withheld the C-section?
Goer points to how conditioned we have become to trust in Western medicine to help us deliver our babies. Rourke had wanted to avoid an epidural, an intrusive doctor, any unnatural practices that typically help women in their deliveries. Yet without the use of such modern advances in medicine, Rourke would most likely have died. Right? Goer thinks not. The dangers of childbirth that are raised in Gawande's article factor into a larger issue which Goer reveals, that of hospital childbirth as an industry. Gawande writes, "clinicians are increasingly reluctant to take a risk, however small, with natural childbirth." At first this seems bizarre to me, as natural childbirth is how women gave birth for thousands of years before current practices were adopted. Within the industry of childbirth, C-sections a particular niche market for those who aim to avoid the complications that may arise...and for their OBGYNs. Did you know that a C-section costs $10,000? And such a surgery is highly convenient for a doctor, who can schedule for 'Jill's' baby to come out on a date that works for him/her, instead of waking up at 3am to deliver for 'Jill.' It is only within the last 80 years that natural childbirth has become less common, perceived as taking a 'risk.' Yet it was also the leading cause of death for women. So although it seems strange that women and their doctors avoid giving birth in the most natural way possible, doing so can literally save lives.
Though Goer contests this point, and highlights the greater risks involved in C-sections for both mother and child, neither writer comments on the preference of pregnant women. I'm interested in learning how women are informed of their choices. I cannot speak from personal experience; I can only hope that a pregnant woman is fully informed of her rights and is aware of the likelihood that any dangerous aspect of childbirth/surgery can arise. As long as she makes her own decision, it's the right one.
If you want to look at what a C-section looks like, click on the link below.... I couldn't bring myself to actually watch, but from what I did see, it's graphic. You've been warned. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjgxKcjnimY&feature=related
*If you ever need a quick pick-me-up, google image "baby"....
This is a morbid thought but what if all these deaths of the mothers during child birth was supposed to be the natural order of things? Maybe it should be a form of natural selection or a way to control the population and modern medicine is changing our evolution?
ReplyDeleteWith the Health Care Bill signed into law, I also wonder if doctors will continue to opt towards C-sections, which as Eileen notes, are very expensive.
I liked Gawande's comment about medicine being a craft of an industry. I would like to say I support it as a craft, but if it was me on the medical stretcher, I would feel more comfortable with a less risky standard industry procedure than a creative doctor's self expression. As Eileen notes, the decision should go back to the mother and I think I would decide to defer to the "medical industry." It is simpler to have a doctor tell you what you need rather an assert what you want. I think that the C-section is taking the "easy" way out because it is what the doctor, and the medical industry want you to spend money on. However, I don't know if I would have the strength to "stand up to the man" and give birth to a man at the same time.
I was confused about the whole C-section costing $10,000 dollars. Women who give birth, or at least the majority, have health insurance so there is no cost, right?
ReplyDeleteLindsey makes a really good point about the Health Care Bill. Now will not only the medical industry be making decisions for us but also the government? Who has our best interests in mind. Personally, I do not know much about childbirth so if I was to give birth I'd probably trust what the doctor has to say.
With the new Health Care Bill, I worry that doctors will not be as motivated to become doctors because they will be payed less and thus the money incentive will not be as high. This especially pertains to OBGYNs who are, sadly, often sued. The prevalence of lawsuits against OBGYNs sadly has deterred many doctors from that profession...
Overall, I believe that medicine has improved. The medical industry has got to be right, afterall in the past many women died during childbirth and today deaths during childbirth is quite rare.
Great thoughts, Eileen and Lindsey -- Eileen, I thought of you as I reread the Gawande, and hoped that you'd made it through without incident! It was more descriptive than I remembered.
ReplyDeleteThis question of craft vs. industry is a really interesting one. Lindsey, I agree: there are benefits to both. Both of these authors, I think, have issues with the fact that industrialization often does away with craft completely. Your final statement, too, is a hugely important one, and one that Goer would love: this industrialization of childbirth makes it difficult to stand up to the man. Should women be faced with the challenge of defending their decisions about childbirth, or should their decisions be valued over "protocol"?
I think that Eileen makes a good point about how the personal preference and choice of the pregnant woman herself is factored into her child birth experience. It is one thing to debate the pros and cons of natural birth and C-sections, but another to consider whether women are being informed on their options. I have always though of the modern advancements in child birth as a good thing, but if women are being coerced into having c-sections from profit maximizing doctors, then something is clearly wrong!
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