Women Opting for Too Many Caesarians

Women are opting for potentially dangerous Caesarian births far too readily, experts say.

New guidelines warn British doctors against performing Caesarians "automatically" on request, and suggest that seven percent of these procedures might be medically unnecessary.

"Of course labor is scary," Louise Silverton of the Royal College of Midwives stated. "But women have got to realize this is major abdominal surgery."

Britain's state-backed National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) urged doctors to help reduce the number of Caesarians, saying 1.5 percent of all births involved the procedure without medical justification.

"There is increasingly clear evidence that the proportion of births by Caesarian could be reduced," said Mary Newburn of the National Childbirth Trust.

But experts denied there was a rise in the "too posh to push" phenomenon, which refers to celebrities opting for Caesarians to avoid the pain and exhaustion of natural childbirth.

Overall, the procedure is conducted in 22 percent of UK births, said the NICE report, compared to World Health Organization guidance that the rate should not exceed 15 percent.

The dangers of the procedure include: infertility, bladder injury, and breathing problems for the baby.

"When I became a midwife 24 years ago, Caesarians were at a rate of 8 to 9 percent," said Silverton. "Women are getting healthier and healthier, so why now do we now have Caesarian rates of over 30 percent in some regions?"

Reference Source 89

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