According to a new report recently released by HealthGrades, Americans are having more C-sections than ever before and the rates are continuing to rise. The study compiled information from 19 states, whose records were publicly available, and found that between 2002 and 2009, the rate of mothers receiving C-sections swelled from 27 percent to 34 percent. The report, HealthGrades Obstetrics and Gynecology in American Hospitals, also found that the state with the highest rate was found in Florida (38.6 percent) and the state with the lowest rate of C-sections was Utah (22.4 percent). “Obviously, a 34 percent C-section rate is far too high. Medical reasons alone cannot possibly explain why more than one in three American women need major abdominal surgery in order to safely give birth,” Jacqueline Wolf, a researcher at Ohio University said, reports MyHealthNewsDaily. MyHealthNewsDaily also states that the World Health Organization (WHO) also agrees; with 15 percent being the acceptable percentage of women receiving surgical births. Many women are receiving C-sections even though they may not necessarily need them. In a report by MyHealthNewsDaily published last year, Dr. Jun Zhang, a medical researcher at the National Institute of Health, believes part of the problem has to do with many women (70 percent) who received a C-section the first time around, and are opting for the surgical route in subsequent pregnancies, without trying for a VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean). “Women and physicians may be concerned about uterine rupture, but the risk is less than 1 percent. More than half of all women can have a successful VBAC,” Zhang said. In the same report, Dr. Daniel Roshan, an ob-gyn at New York University Langone Medical Center, agrees, saying this stems from the fear of lawsuits. Roughly 30 percent of hospitals in America have officially banned VBAC’s. “Doctors are practicing legal medicine, not real medicine,” Roshan said. Cesarean sections are needed when there is a medical or physical complication during pregnancy or during labor. They can be life saving for mother and baby. However, C-sections come with a cost – it’s considered major surgery and therefore risks come with it; such as infection, higher chances of bleeding, longer hospital stays and higher medical costs. In a recent study that states children who are born via C-section don’t exhibit better health than those born vaginally, MyHealthNewsDaily quotes study researcher Dr. Christopher Glantz as saying, that while some benefit and need a C-section, it is a major surgery. “Why subject a mother to risks of a Caesarean if you’re not improving the outcome? I think if you’re going to do a major surgery, you’d hope to have some benefit accrue from it,” he said.
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