Friday, October 2, 2009

The Forced Cesarean Epidemic


All around the country we are starting to hear stories just like the one of Joy Szabo, threatened by a court order for a cesarean section if she was to show up at her local hospital Page Hospital of Lake Powell, AZ. in labor attempting to have a VBAC.
Now, lets get into the history of Joy's pregnancies. She had a healthy vaginal birth with her first child, and then with her second child she had an emergency cesarean section for a placental eruption, which was followed by a healthy and safe VBAC with her third child. For those not familiar with the term VBAC it means Vaginal Birth after a Cesarean Section.
So what is the problem with Page Hospital?
Recently in June, the hospital decided they would no longer allow VBAC, because of staffing problems they are having. Stating that they would not be able to urgently deliver a baby if there is a problem with a VBAC. But then comes the question about other moms who may need an emergency cesarean section who have not had a previous cesarean section. How are they able to deliver those babies under an emergent situation, but not a mother who is having a VBAC?
Sorry but if you can't handle one emergency, you can't handle any and shouldn't be delivering babies at all.
It is a cheap cop out.

Unfortunately we are seeing this trend across the country. Women being denied VBAC for the same reasons stated above, or because Doctors simply do not do them.

You can contact the hospital by e-mailing the President and CEO Peter Fine at peter.fine@bannerhealth.com

Or go and leave some comments on their facebook fan page
http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/BannerHealth?ref=ts

For more information on VBAC bans across the country visit http://ican-online.org/vbac-ban-info

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