I do not understand why some doctors are so inexplicably insistent on caesarean deliveries if a woman is capable of a normal delivery. Why should women be subjected to an unnecessary and dangerous operation?
One of my friends recently told me about this dangerous tendency in our government hospitals. He accompanied one of his relatives to a government hospital as the relative’s wife was about to deliver. Minutes after she went into the delivery room, a female nurse appeared asking for the husband’s signature on a form consenting to a caesarean section. When he refused to sign, the doctor himself came out, very angry and told the husband to sign immediately. We tried to convince the doctor that it was too early to make such a major decision but he told us angrily that he was the doctor and that he would decide whether the woman needed a cesarean or not. Because her husband did not feel that she needed a caesarean, he took her to another hospital where she had a perfectly normal delivery.
A large number of women in our country have been the victims of doctors who decide unnecessarily to perform a caesarean section. This makes us wonder if there is a monetary incentive which pushes doctors to make such a drastic decision even if the woman is capable of a normal delivery. According to an expert of the World Health Organization, a caesarean section results in high rates of death for both mothers and children. Another expert stated that both women and their doctors should be enlightened more on the risks and complications which may accompany a caesarean delivery. These complications can include damage to the urinary bladder, the uterus and sometimes even death.
18 August 2002
