Elective Deliveries: A Sign of a Healthcare System Out of Control
My husband is always getting on me about the number of tabs I have open in my browser at any one time. I think one time I had more than 100 open.
Within the past few days, at least 10 of those tabs dealt with the same topic: medical tests and procedures that we either don’t need or that don’t work. There are simply too many for a single blog, so I’m focusing on one here and will write more about others in the coming days.
The lucky winner? Births.
Seems like an obvious medical procedure, doesn’t it? Baby is delivered when mom goes into labor or, if problems develop or mom goes over her due date, labor is induced. So why, as Kaiser Health News recently reported, are 10 to 15 percent of U.S. babies delivered early without medical cause, up to 40 percent in some hospitals?
Early delivery increases the risk that the baby will have feeding and breathing problems, infections, and developmental problems, requiring a stay in costly neonatal intensive care units. It also increases the risk that mothers will need caesarian sections (indeed, many of these births are scheduled c-sections).
Why the early deliveries? Convenience for … Continue Reading