Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Mainstream Birth Reporting

In the past two weeks, there have been a number of crappy mainstream morning shows reporting on childbirth. From water birth with Good Morning America and an ignorant Ob/GYN as their "expert" to an elective cesarean section for a "big baby" on the Today Show.

While watching both segments, I continued to get the though of how much bad, inaccurate, and biased reporting was taking place... 'I'm up to my eyeballs in bad information"
Then it struck me... a commercial I had seen in the past that I could compare it to...




But what is the point? People are going to believe exactly what these television "experts" have to say, despite the information to the contrary.

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After watching this video, there are some things that need to be cleared up.
First off, there should never be anything routine, or scheduled when it comes to a cesarean, especially one being aired on TV. They should ONLY be happening for real medical reasons.
Then the doctor, mid surgery starts discussing cesarean section rates, which she is grossly inaccurate on. She quotes that depending where you are 25-30% of babies are being delivered by cesarean section when the fact is, this hospital which this planned cesarean took place at has a surgical birth percent of well over 40% and the national average as of 2007 was 31.8%.
Then they tackle the reasons for cesarean section, starting with "baby too big"
Well who gets to decide if that baby is too big? Third trimester ultrasounds that are infamous for being inaccurate up to 2 full pounds? The Doctor who wants to be out on the golf course by noon? Come on! Women birth "big babies" daily!
Then another listed reason was a mother with a previous cesarean section, and this stigma is the reason out maternal mortality rates are climbing with the cesarean section rate, while the VBAC number is dropping. Having a previous cesarean section is NOT a reason to sign up for an elective cesarean in the vast majority of cases.

After weighing this little boy, 10 pounds even, everyone starts to exclaim how they chose the right way to deliver this baby! Oh and don't forget, Mom Kerry was PAST HER DUE DATE! OMG EMERGENCY!
HURL!
But wait! It gets worse.
Their "medical expert" Dr. Nancy chimes in that because of the history of big babies in both families (these were not petite parents by any means) and because she was past her due date, a cesarean section was the SAFEST option. Where did she get her medical degree from? A cracker Jacks box? Apparently they just had those out to anyone today. What a grossly INACCURATE and DANGEROUS piece of information to be giving out!!

The Today Show should be completely ASHAMED of themselves for giving this kind of dangerous information out, not only that but completely leaving out ALL the MAJOR medical risks of a cesarean section.

Morning Show Fail!

3 comments:

Doreen said...

Unfortunately, media is famous for not getting it correct. I cringe when the "report" on my industry and it kills me to know that the misinformation they give out is what the public believes. My motto has always been that one should consult an actual professional, not rely on media or Google.

Anonymous said...

Thank you for your post.. this is sickening, wrong, against nature.. I'm so upset!!!

Liars and thieves..

Could you add the share gadget so your posts can be easily shared on facebook, and other sites?

Great blog!

Anne said...

This is really bad. When I was pregnant, I was really going to have a Cesarean because I was afraid of the normal delivery but I was so ignorant that it is too expensive. The doctor really scared me if I would be put on cesarean, there is a greater chance that it would be difficult for me to get pregnant so I have to be on normal delivery. Yes I did it and I thanked my doctor.

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