New ACOG Committee Opinion on Maternal Request

ACOG has just published a new Committee Opinion on Cesarean Delivery on Maternal Request (Number 559, April 2013), and says, "In the absence of maternal or fetal indications for cesarean delivery, a plan for vaginal delivery is safe and appropriate and should be recommended."

Cesarean rates UP since the 70s and 80s... AND...?

Countless articles, news reports and media interviews begin with an introduction along these lines... "Back in the 1980, the CS rate was just X but today it's risen to Y. Evidently, this is bad."

But surely the CS rate is not all that readers and listeners need or want to know? For example, why not inform them that over the same period, rates of infant deaths have decreased significantly.

Antibiotic risk for all births, but especially planned CS

On Monday, the Chief Medical Officer in England, Professor Dame Sally Davies, warned that unless we "tackle the catastrophic threat of antimicrobial resistance", we could see more people dying following even minor surgery.

The Department for Health press release reports that an infectious disease has been discovered nearly every year over the past 30 years, very few new antibiotics have been developed, leading to concerns that as diseases evolve, they can become resistant to existing drugs.

Dr. Magnus and I wrote about this issue in our chapter on 'Planned Cesarean Risks',

Are women who choose a cesarean LAZY?

Yesterday, Australian radio presenter Jason Morrison hosted a discussion on whether women who choose a cesarean are 'too posh to push'.

His co-host, pregnant and planning a natural birth in a few weeks' time, agrees with some of her friends - that women who choose a cesarean are 'lazy'.

But what I find most interesting about the discussion is this: Jason is very understanding and balanced on the subject - largely because his own wife had a cesarean birth.