However, in the US, which has similar rates of c-section which are similarly rising, about 28% of cesarean sections were elective in 2005, and 72% were emergency cesareans. So some percentage of your 28% will be maternal request, yes.

I’ll give to you 2-1 on that being true.

But your individual case study aside, the broader fact remains: 72% increase in c-sections in 10 years. That points to something being very off in maternity wards, is what I’m saying. If we’re talking of “do no harm” as you mentioned earlier, I’d just point out that c-sections have a complications rate four times higher than vaginal births. If a significant percentage of the cesareans taking place in Ireland are indeed medically unnecessary, that is putting women at serious risk.

Yet when the day arrived and things started to go wrong this knowledge counted for absolutely nothing. In the heat of the moment decisions had to be made which would affect the outcome of the delivery and off all the people in the room both myself and my partner were the least qualified to make those decison, despite the research we had done. Pressing all the keys on a piano once does not make you a pianist just as “reading” about birth trauma etc does not gurantee that you will be in a position to make the “right” decsion at the time.

I’m not overly confident in the medical system in this country but last year over 8000 babies were delivered in the Coombe so the system must be working to some degree. Could it be better? Of course. Do doctors make mistakes? yes they do! Should they be held accountable? Absolutely. But IMHO, ultimately it is doctors and nurses who have both the academic and practical knowledge which gives them the edge over lay folk during any medical procedure.

It’s a debating point with no definitive answer, though, hence my saying it’s even odds.

Can’t argue with that at all, the law is the law and all that. Morally I think she’s absolutely bankrupt though.

Don’t understand the first part of your comment though.

I have worked in an A&E. It is very difficult to watch people die, especially if someone can intervene to save a life. I am not unsympathetic to the difficulty the woman’s healthcare practitioners were put in. But (and yes I realise this is ironic) they have a duty of care to the patient to not force them to undergo treatments they do not want. Prioritising their own needs, or their own morals, over those of a patient within her legal rights is an abuse of power.

I’m not questioning what happened during your daughter’s birth, but a lot of “emergency” cesareans, for example, are avoidable. Cesarean sections increased by 72% in a 10 year period in Ireland where the neo-natal mortality rate remained steady.

There is not some mysterious uterine defect suddenly affecting 72% of birthing women in Ireland. There is, however, a dramatic rush towards intervention at routine births in a hospital setting. So sadly, no, I do not trust that Doctor Knows Best in this country, not by a longshot.

Ironically, considering the issue of the original post here, if women were better educated about childbirth and therefore empowered to actually decline things like monitoring, the cascade could be avoided for a lot of these women.

On the other hand, if we had a medical culture of respect for the autonomy of the patient, instead of a cookie cutter baby birthing conveyor belt, that would help, too. Simply asking “Would you like to be monitored?” instead of saying “Stay still so we can hook you up to the monitor” would be a good start.

Of course, as you point out, most women don’t seem to know they can decline the monitor. The fact that people *make other people* with less research than they put into buying a new car I do find somewhat amazing. Nobody turns up at a car dealership saying “well, I won’t bother with that issue of Which?, I’m sure they know what they’re doing.”