More private patients opt for C-section

Private patients in Ireland are twice as likely to have pre-planned Caesarean sections as women whose treatment is publicly funded, according to new figures that lend support to the theory that some mothers are “too posh to push”.

Twenty one percent of private patients have a scheduled C-section compared with just 8.9% of publicly funded ones, the study found.

Researchers examined 30,000 women who gave birth at a hospital in Ireland which caters for both private and public-funded patients between 2008 and 2011.