C-Sections- It is not nice to fool Mother Nature

Dear Editors:

Your writer glamorizes a major surgical procedure that,if performed unnecessarily, can have serious outcomes for the mother and baby. This is not a face-lift,it is major abdominal surgery that has three times the maternal death rate as vaginal birth. Are the women who elect this [usually when prodded by their doctors] made aware of that? Are they also aware that their baby may be born too soon or too small and have long-term educational problems because their brains are not fully developed? Do they understand that,after the first cesarean, the next pregnancy has twice the stillbirth rate and can have life-threatening problems with the placenta because of the uterine scar? Do they know that there is no epidemiologic evidence that cesarean prevents future urinary incontinence and in fact can make future abdominal surgery more difficult due to abdominal adhesions?

My point is that most women with normal pregnancies who agree to elective induction of labor or scheduled cesarean haven’t a clue about some of the very negative consequences of the surgery. Cesarean section is a very important and life-saving intervention in some high risk situations. However there is plenty of evidence that vaginal birth has a toning and protective effect on the baby’s brain and results in babies with less asthma,chronic lung disease, and learning disabilities.

In my opinion,if this unfortunate trend continues, our society may find out in the near future that “It’s not nice to fool Mother Nature”

Charles Mahan,MD,FACOG