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VBAC Flim-flammery

Yesterday NPR's All Things Considered had a segment about the falling VBAC (Vaginal Birth After Cesarean) rate. The piece included an interview with Steven Lewis, the Chief Medical Officer of Flagstaff Medical Center. According to Lewis, his facility could not offer VBAC to mothers because they could not guarantee the immediate availability of a surgical team, as per ACOG's (flawed) VBAC guidelines.

The NPR reporter bracketed the segment with a young mother named Audrey Creed. Creed had wanted a VBAC, but had been forced to have a repeat cesarean by her hospital's policy, even though medical evidence demonstrates that VBAC is safer than planned repeat cesarean section.

Creed might or might not have been aware of this medical evidence. But being no fool, she cuts right to the chase: "That's what the hospital is there for -- to handle emergencies." Exactly. Not only do dire emergencies occur in non-VBAC labors, but hospitals are more than happy to offer services that substantially increase the chances of an emergency, such as an epidural or induction of labor. Any hospital that claims it can't handle VBAC safely is admitting that it is not adequately prepared to handle any labor.

So to sum up, Dr. Steven Lewis has just conceded on national radio that his facility is a deathtrap for laboring women. Until Flagstaff Medical Center can offer adequate emergency care for its patients, Arizona mothers should avoid it like the plague.

Posted by Evan Goer on Aug. 21, 2007 at 8:26 PM | Comments (5)

Comments

(a) you have much knowledge, and (b) remind me not to move to Arizona.

Posted by Sarah on Aug. 22, 2007 at 10:02 PM
Or at least give birth there.

Posted by Evan on Aug. 23, 2007 at 6:22 AM
That's a pretty good observation...they have a surgical team that can handle the C-section, but NOT the VBAC.

Btw, you DO seem to have much knowledge. Wherever did you get it from?

Posted by Adiv on Aug. 23, 2007 at 10:09 AM
In this case, genetics. :)

Posted by Evan on Aug. 23, 2007 at 11:07 AM
In addition to your point, there's the human rights violation of making women agree to surgery in order to obtain medical care. The obs say they have the right to decline to perform a procedure, but, of course, labor isn't a procedure. Labor is what happens at the end of pregnancy if you DON'T perform a procedure. And if they want to argue that this is about the baby's well-being, the courts have long since established that no person can be forced to undergo any type of invasive procedure--let alone major surgery--in order to benefit a third party even if the beneficiary has a 100% chance of dying, which isn't remotely the case here. You can't even harvest organs from a dead body without permission, which means we hold the rights of living women in this country lower than those of a corpse.

Posted by Henci Goer on Aug. 23, 2007 at 10:28 PM

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This entry was posted on August 21, 2007 by Evan Goer.

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