C-sections

A friend of mine is past due on her pregnancy, coming up on 42 weeks. It has been interesting to watch how the Icelandic health care system is dealing with her case. They are taking their time about it. They are not rushing into inducing her, they are not rushing into scheduling a Cesarean. Nope. Just monitoring the baby, having her come in every three or four days for an ultra-sound, making sure everything is going well. Koleen (my friend) told me last night the baby's heart rate had started to go up, and she is going in for a checkup today (which means I get to watch her two lovely boys!), so they may decide to start doing something now to induce labor. But they are really trying not to force the issue, they are just trying to let the baby come out naturally when it is ready.

This is different than the policy in the United States, where medical practitioners seem rather eager to schedule a Cesarean the first chance they get. I guess in either case, it boils down to money. The one system wants to save money, the other system wants to try to get more money from the health insurance agencies. There are ways to say in both scenarios that the health of the mother and the baby are the primary concern, and I believe actually this is the primary motivation. It is just a question of the secondary motivations, and how they influence the final decision making process.

Comments

Ko-Leen said…
they avoid c-sections in Canada too. My doctor there told me that every time he books one he has to explain it in front of the medical board and that is no fun!
(at least in alberta)
September 28, 2009 at 9:03 PM
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