Mass. Hospitals Cutting Back on Schedule-a-Birth C-Sections

Mass. Hospitals Cutting Back on Schedule-a-Birth C-Sections. After nine of what have to be the single most inconvenient, uncomfortable months of a woman’s life, it’s understandable why get-it-out-now C-sections have become so commonplace. Indeed, as it turns out, more than a few Massachusetts hospitals have been performing Caesarean section surgeries at nearly triple the rate recommended by the World Health Organization. At South Shore Hospital, for example, the rate jumped by 60 percent over 11 years to 2009 — but that’s changed recently. South Shore’s C-section numbers are plummeting, and it’s not the only hospital where that’s happening either — doctors across the state are holding off and questioning the rationale behind each and every C-section, putting the brakes on the unnecessary ones. Why? It is a surgery, common or not, and performing it is not only expensive, but it puts the mother at a greater risk both at the time of the birth, and in future pregnancies. So mothers-in-waiting, as tempting as it is to time that birth and get it over with a little earlier, hold out just a little bit longer if you can and don’t pressure your doctor. He’s doing right by you even when he asks you to sit tight a few more days. [Patriot Ledger]