Battle lines drawn over c-sections
The VBAC war continues to rage, and large numbers of women continue to be victims of it. It is becoming increasingly difficult for woman to have a VBAC at a hospital, even if she is an excellent candidate for one. It’s no secret what is driving the VBAC ban – litigation. It’s not about VBAC being an unsafe choice medically, it’s about VBAC being a risky choice for doctors legally. One chief of obstetrics is quoted in the article as saying that the risk of uterine rupture may seem quite low, but that “it’s damn high if you’re the one” (that it happens to). Yes, that’s true. But the same could be said for a repeat c-section. The risk of death from anesthesia, hemorrhage, emergency hysterectomy, etc. is quite low, but if you’re the one it happens to it’s “damn high.” The reasonable thing to do is to compare relative risk, and the fact is that the risk of dying from anesthesia from a c-section is higher than the risk of dying from a uterine rupture.
You can read the article here
