Birth figures - Huge rise in Caesareans alarming

Serious questions must be asked about the massive rise of 80.8% in the number of Caesarean sections performed between 1992 and 2001.

Of course there are occasions when such operations are the safest means of delivering a baby, but this has always been the case. It does not explain such a dramatic increase in this form of delivery, which now accounts for more than a fifth of all births in this country.

Various explanations have been put forward, but most seem to have little to do with the health of the mother or the baby. Instead, the explanations are more about lawyers, litigation, finance and administration.

One explanation is that in our current culture of litigation doctors are so afraid of being sued for something that may go wrong in natural births, that they are performing Caesarean sections to protect themselves.

There was a time when society was appalled at what were called “knife-happy” surgeons, who performed unnecessary operations in order to boost their fees, but the situation has now developed in which doctors are being compelled to perform such operations in order to minimise the danger of being sued. This is not an issue of anyone being “knife-happy” but merely being legally cautious.

Other factors are also being cited, such as the suggestion that some younger women see a Caesarean section as a lifestyle choice, a trendy way of having their baby. These women are rather flippantly being described as “too posh to push”.

In addition, there is the question of hospital overcrowding. The maternity hospitals, in the Dublin area especially, are under tremendous pressure because of the demands on their facilities.

Natural childbirths tend to be more time consuming, and hence there is pressure on women to get it over with quickly by Caesarean section.

This kind of conveyor belt delivery system allows for much tighter scheduling within hospitals, because it eliminates so much of the uncertainty and waiting.

There is little doubt that such operations can reduce the demands on the nursing staff and doctors by facilitating tighter planning, but if such planning considerations are allowed to determine the manner in which babies are born, will it be very long before such considerations will be allowed to dictate? Women are already being put under pressure to forego natural childbirths.

Ultimately, if this continues as a trend, they will not even have a choice about how their babies are born.

Instead they will be reduced to obtaining a kind of planning permission to schedule the birth at a time that best suits the hospital administration and the staff.

Considerations for the mother and child will be minimal.

The World Health Organisation recommends no more than 15% of births should be by C-section, which means Ireland is already one-third above that figure.

This is contrary to best medical practice, because the rate for complications during Caesarean sections is four times greater than during natural births.

This practice should therefore be seriously questioned before such recklessness becomes standardised.