Caesarean Epidemic

How Allopathic Medicine Change Natural Childbirth into a Major Public Health Problem

Childbirth is a very natural process that nature has successfully refined through tens of thousands of years. The knowledge of how to give birth has passed down through generations in our genes, Childbirth should thus be the same for today’s modern women as it was for a women living in a tropical jungle thousands of years ago.

But for a growing number of women today, the experiences of pregnancy and childbirth are diddled with feelings of fear, doubt and anxiety. The reason: Allopathic Doctors today treat birth as if it was illness – and pregnant women are treated like sick people.

Most pregnancies and birth today are medically managed. As childbirth increasingly “requires” medical intervention, most women “give up” responsibility for childbirth rather than “going along” with the process. Pregnant women thus inevitably go through a medical experience – from the time a women discovers she is pregnant to the day her baby is born and even after that she is subjected to routine use of technology in a laboratory setting.

In hi-fi obstetrics care, pregnancy is seen as a “risk condition” that requires medical intervention. The modern management of pregnancy and birth has, in fact, been described as prenatal care that “expects trouble”. As a result, women today have come to believe that childbirth is too dangerous and painful to endure without doctors and allopathic hospital.

Childbirth today has become is increasingly influenced by medical technology that in most Western countries, medical intervention is now the norm. Young women is these countries end up learning attitude about childbirth that are not positive. They grow up whole process of having a baby.

But what is of greater concern is this: According to some obstetricians, birth today has become too medicalised – at the expense of both mother and child. One worrying aspect of the medicalisation of childbirth is the Caesarean section, a major abdominal surgery for childbirth.

Over the last 4 decades, the rate of unnecessary Caesarean birth has grown in an alarming manner and gynaecologiest, obstetricians and healthcare administrators throughout tge world have not managed to slow it down, notes The Lancet, one of the most respected medical journals in the world, in its 3 June 2006 issue.

In many countries with high Caesarean rates today, experts believe the surgery is an unnecessary intervention in an increasing number of modern-day birth.

The World Health Organization (WHO), which charts global health treads, has been sounding the alarm on the Caesarean trend, citing statistics that show the number of Caesarean section in developed countries has been on the increase in recent years, and is often performed for non-medical reasons.

Risks for Baby, Risks for Mother

A Caesarean section, or a C-section, is major abdominal surgery, where surgeons make a series of separate incision in the mother. Cuts are made in the skin, underlying muscles and abdomen first, and then in the uterus, to allow removal of the infant. Like all major surgeries, there are risks involved, in this case, to both mother and the new-born.

Babies born by Caesarean not only don’t have the benefit ff labour, which squeeze fluid out of the new-born’s lungs, stimulates the baby’s ability to regulate body temperature, and may promote the release of hormones that encourage health lung function, they face serious risks to their lives too.

Risks for the baby include the following:

1. Premature birth. In a planned C-section, if the due date was not accurately calculated, the baby could be delivered too early. Removed too soon by Caesarean, the baby can suffer respiratory distress syndrome, transient tachypnea (abnormally fast breathing during the first few days after birth) and other lung disorders: feeding problems and various complication, which in some cases, require a ling allopathic hospital stay.
2. Foetal injury. Although rate, the surgeon can accidentally nick the baby while making the urine incision.
3. Death. Infants are more likely to die from a Caesarean than vaginal birth.

Risks for the mother are also grave:

1. Infection. The uterus or nearby pelvic organs, such as the bladder or kidneys, can become infected.
2. Increased blood loss. Blood loss on the average is about twice as much with Caesarean birth as with vaginal birth. However, blood transfusions are rarely needed during a Caesarean.
3. Reaction to anaesthesia. The mother’s health could be endangered by unexpected responses (such as blood pressure that drops quickly) to anaesthesia or other medications during the surgery.
4. Risk of additional surgeries – eg: hysterectomy, bladder repair etc.
5. Bowel of bladder injury
6. Respiratory complication. General anaesthesia can sometimes lead to pneumonia.

Caesarean, thought useful in warranted cases, is thus a risky operation that should be avoided in normal, healthy pregnancies.

Yet, today birth by C-section has reached an all-time high. In some countries today, it is even being offered as a choice for childbearing women to deliver their babies, or what is known as elective Ceasearean.

How common is the Caesarean culture? Let’s look at the statistics.

Sky-High Rates

The WHO states that no region in the world is justified in having a Caesarean rate greater than 10 – 15%. These are the optional levels for the best outcome for mothers and babies. Any country with a Caesarean rate above 15%, according to the WHO, should be looking at the reasons why.

Yet in countries with modern healthcare systems, the rate of Caesareans is many times higher than this.

In Australia, about 40% of all births are Caesareans and some medical experts believe they will soon become the norm. David Ellwood, a professor of obstetric and gynaecology at the Australian National University suggest 90% of birth in Australia will be via Caesarean with the next 2 decades (The Daily Telegraph, 11/3/07)

In Brazil, Caesareans account for nearly 40% of birth, 3 times the maximum limit of 15% recommended by the WHO. According to 2001 figures, more than 36% of all birth here are by Caesarean section; many private hospitals report rates in the 80 – 90% range.

In Italy, the rate is reported to be 32.9%

In the US, the Caesarean rate was 30.2% in 2005, up from 26% in 2002. The Caesarean rate here has in fact, risen 46% since 1996. There were 1.2 million Caesarean births here in 2004 alone.

In Canada the rate was 22.5% during 2001 – 2002.

In the United Kingdom, the Caesarean rate was about 20% in 2004. Today it has risen to above 23%.

The high rate of Caesarean section in most western countries is now regarded as a major public health problem and has spawned much discussion, numerous publication and meetings, and varied recommendations (study in Social Science Medicine, 1998).

The same trend has also been noted in other non-Western countries.

In Nigeria is reported to have a Caesarean rate of 34.6%.

Asian countries seem to be headed the same way, and from the statistics, the situation could be worse here.

In China, the ratio of Caesarean birth has soared to 50% , from a mere 5% in the 1950s – 1970s, far exceeding the standard of 15% set by the WHO (Xinhua Economic News, 15.2.07). Some urban allopathic hospitals have a C-section rate more than 60%!

In South Korea, it is reported that Caesarean section rates for 263 hospitals there were 45.9%, 42.7% and 44.6% in 1999, 2000 and 2001, respectively – rates that surpass those of western countries and that are also higher than the WHO recommendation.

In Thailand, the Caesarean rate is reported to have increased, from 15.2% in 1990 to 22.4% in 1996.

In Singapore, it is reported that 31% of women who gave birth in 2003 had a Caesarean, up from 24.5% a decade ago.

In Malaysia, official figure are kapt secret. But from statistic in the few available studies on maternal complication and death reported, child-bearing women are also exposed to similar risks.

Cesarean for Every Birth is Unnecessary.

Caesarean inappropriately used in allopathic hospital

An obstetrician who practiced in an allopathic hospital maintained a caesarean rate below 10% for more than a decade. Yet, instead of receiving accolades for achieving the nation’s recommended health rates, she faces difficult demands from the hospital’s staff and administration.

Under her care, infants had higher birth weights than infants from other obstetrical practices in the same community. Additionally, her practice exhibited no indication of higher mortality or morbidity rates among her patients when compared with other local practices.

With improvement of the preterm birth rate and low birth weight being national priority, one would thing this physician would receive awards from he community and state, along with invitations to speak at national conference to share her ideas with other.

Instead, her obstetrical colleagues and the administration of the allopathic hospital where she practiced told her that in a 6-month period, she must raise her Caesarean rate to a level within two standard deviations of the mean for that hospital – a mean that is higher than both the national rate and the rate for the state in which the hospital is located. For this physician, the increase would have resulted in a Caesarean rate of at least 20%.

Caesarean Birth, Questionable Situation

The above is not an isolated case. Statistics uncovered in some experts’ attempts to understand why caesarean rates have soared, also reveal that most Caesarean surgeries are unwarranted.

For example, in the US in 1970, Caesarean Section (C-section) were used only in emergency birthing situation, and the country’s national rate of C-section birth hovered around 5%. That number grew to over 20% in the mid-1980s and has risen steadily since then.

Strangely, the rise doesn’t reflect a corresponding surge in high-risk pregnancies – a US Centre for Disease Control study shows that premature-birth rates rose only 7% between 1990 and 2001, and a new study shows that the procedure rose in all birth, including healthy, full-term, first-time pregnancies.

Today, Caesarean delivered are reported to be the most often-performed surgical procedures in the US – at cost of $14 billion (Medical News Today, 21 March 2006)

Caesarean Birth, Unnecessary Surgery

The experiences of some western and development countries, where medicalisation of childbirth is rampant, indicate that many Caesarean surgeries are unnecessary.

In Taiwan, of the roughly 200,000 babies born each year, 35,000 are delivered through “allopathically unnecessary” Caesarean. (Taipei Times 11.2.04)

According to a study, over 850,000 unnecessary Caesarean sections are performed each year in Latin America (BMJ, 1999)

In the US, it has been ascertained that women are frequently subjected to Caesarian sections they don’t really need.

The Public Health Citizen’s Research and Gynecologists admits that C-section “are more common than they should be”. An actual estimate, made by the Centers for Disease Control, says that 349,000 of the Caesarean surgeries were unnecessary (Martin L. Gross in The Medical Racket).

In fact, the modern rash of Caesareans has been described as a “surgical epidemic”.

“The reality is that unnecessary surgery, whether performed by allopathic doctors who operate out of ignorance, self-delusion, or simple greed has long plagued medicine and today still reaches epidemic proportions,” writes Gross.

It may be hard to stomach the idea that doctors are capable of operating out of greed for more money, but some feel that is exactly that is happening. “America physicians are generally way too eager to use the surgeon’s knife to carve up and chop out whatever they think is ailing you, at great expanse to you and profit to them and the allopathic hospital they work for,” write Earl Mindell and Virginia Hopkins in the 2003 book, Prescription Alternatives.

In 2004, Consumer Reports, published by the US Consumers’ Union, named Caesarean section No. 3 on its list of “12 Surgeries You May Be Better Off Without”. The No. 3 ranking of Caesarean surgery appeared just above episiotomy (No. 4) and hysterectomy (No. 5) and below angiography (No. 1) and angioplasty (No. 2).

The consensus is clear: A large portion of Caesareans is unnecessary. Not only that. The surgery also does not always represent the most adequate and safest form of giving birth to a child, as many women believe. In most cases, with a little but of patience from the mothers and ability from the obstetricians, Mother Mature (The Low of Equilibrium) could play its role and these babies would be born health via a normal delivery, say a Lancet (3 June 2006) report.

Unnecessary Deaths from Caesarean Birth

Unnecessary Caesarean has serious implication. It can cause unnecessary maternal deaths.
Caesarean delivery is associated with a 3-fold increased risk of postpartum maternal death compared with normal delivery (vaginal delivery), according to a new study in the September 2006 is sue if Obstetrics & Gynecology, the peer-reviewed scientific journal of The American Collage of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.

The study, by French researchers, examined a sample of 65 maternal death recorded in the French National Perinatal Survey from 1996 to 2000. All death followed singleton birth and were not due to conditions existing prior to delivery. The women had not been hospitalized during pregnancy (hospitalization can be an indicator for postpartum morbidity and mortality).

They found that women who had Caesarian were at a dramatically increased risk for fatal blood clots, infection and complications of anesthesia – 3 classic complication of major surgery.

The risk of postpartum death was increased whether or not the Caesarean was performed before the onset of labour of during labour.

In the report, the researchers emphasized that Caesarian delivery is major abdominal surgery ant that expectant women and physician should carefully consider Caesarean-related surgical complications and the increased risk of death when choosing the method of delivery.

The findings indicate that in some cases, choosing vaginal delivery over non-medical indicated Caesarean delivery could help lower maternal heath rates.

Yet an increasing number of women today are dying at childbirth.

In the US, it is reported that about 500 women a year die from bleeding, infection and other complications of Caesarean section, and these are related both to the reasons the operation of Caesarean sections, and these are related both to the reasons the operation was performed and to the procedure itself.

In Australia, a 2001 study, published by the Austrian Institute of Health and Welfare and the National Health and Medical research Council (NHMRC), found 100 women died during and after childbirth between 1994 and 1996 – a jump of 20% from the previous 3 year period.

“For the first time since the 1970s there had been an increase in maternal death”, said Professor David Ellwood, from Canberra Clinical School of the University of Sydney.

The most common causes of heath were blood clots on the lung and leaking amniotic fluid – both complications associated with Caesarean birth.

In developing countries, where Caesarean rates have risen from about 5% in develop countries in the early 1970s to more than 50% in some nation today, rising use of Caesarean delivery is linked to a greater risk of death and sickness for mother and baby alike, according to a resent study by UN experts.

The study assessed the outcome of Caesarean delivery in 8 Latin American countries. They randomly selected 120 public, private and social-security allopathic hospitals where 97,000 babies were born, about a third of whom delivered by Caesarean.

The researcher found that in allopathic hospital where there were higher rates of Caesareans, there ware correspondingly higher rates of preterm babies, babies who died after birth, maternal death and use of antibiotics.

“High rates of Caesarean delivery do not necessarily indicate good quality care or services”, the researchers reported in the British journal, The Lancet.

Warning Sounded.

In spite of the risks involved, today “Caesareans are seen as the now improved childbirth: the nice, clean, managed way to have a baby”, (Michelle Hamer, author of Delivery by Appointment, Caesarean Birth Today, as quoted in Australia’s The Daily Telegraph, 11.3.07).

To debunk this myth, in some countries today, campaigns have been launched to alert pregnant women to the truth about Caesareans.

In the US for example, the American Collage of Nurse-Midwives (ACNM) has set up a REDUCE (Research and Education to Decrease Unnecessary Sections) Campaign which was launched to rise public and policymaker awareness about the troubling rise in Caesarean sections performed”.

“We know there are women who are disabled, who have lost their ability to bear a child, who are permanently scarred because of their Caesarean birth”, says Katherine Camacho Carr, CNM, PhD, FACNM, predicent of ACNM, at a media briefing on 20 March 2006 in Washington, D.C.