Registered User
Thats a very good pointTBH, I'd like to see hospitals have 90-100% C-Sections. Because I'd like to see women going to Maternity Centres or having homebirths - and not having to pay extra for this. You only go to hospital if you NEED to.
So you have 50 women a year having sections in your hospital rather than 500, but that's 90% of your patients and not 50% of them, IYSWIM.And wouldn't that be WONDERFUL! Imagine the stress taken off the hospital systems, the higher success rate of normal birthing, the better start to BFing relationships and emotional attachments.
BUT it's not the case at the moment. And it's not likely to be.
I voted Yes. the stats SHOULD be available. Why shouldn't they? What are they hiding?? If they are not ashamed of their rates then there is no reason not to make them publicly available, is there? yes they need to be qualified, and women will take what they want from them. Whether that is looking for a hospital that is more likely to allow you to elect a c-section, or one that will support you to birth normally in their system.
Registered User
I was told by the hospital admin worker that the hosptials I spoke about are on shared by pass - they take turns, rotate the weekends between them - if anyone has information that is different, please let us know.
I will be looking into this further during the week, I'm interested in why there is such a huge difference. I will also find out when the 2007 stats are coming out, as that might be different to the 2006 ones, well at least I hope so.
Registered User
Sushee I agree 100% with all your posts!!!
Lea - as myself and others have suggested cs rates alone are not sufficient data but at least they are a start.
Neenee Jellybeanie I agree wholeheartedly! I wonder if 603 women would have voted differently had they left the word shaming out of the question and just asked should data be available???
midi27 - I had an in labour vbac cs and it was documented as elective.
I think we should assume that women who want access to this information are capable of interpreting it.
Bottom line: I had 2 cs for no valid reason, one was due to an evil ob and one was due to hospital policy. If stats were known to all and available my choices may have been different, until we try that how are we to know. I am vba2c again (only this time I will succeed) I have had to research to the ends of the earth to ensure my best possible chances, it has been HELL, hospitals do not want to give up info if they can help it and we as consumers of theirs should not have to harrass them to get it - I have been lied to and only know I have been lied to as I am a nursing student. ALL stats should be made public and be easy to find via googling NOT in restricted access journal articles!
AS for obs with cs rates as high as 85%, if you don't want to know who he is enjoy your Russian roulette but for me, NAME AND SHAME THE KNIFE HAPPY BUGGER!!!!
This thread was exhausting, I am sure I will be lured back though...
Sarah
Last edited by Trillian; November 24th, 2008 at 11:09 AM. : Chaning text colour and editing inflaming comment
Registered User
I can try to find out norquesta - my mum works at Stawell hospital, and my dad was an ambo at Ararat.
Ararat is a small hospital though (it recently had an upgrade / renovation but I don't know which services were affected), my understanding is that they transfer most of their c/s patients to either Stawell or Ballarat, quite possibly the 5% are those that cannot be safely transferred.
Registered User
Well said.I voted yes.We have a right to know these things.
Registered User
I have a query regarding someone's post about paperwork & labour/delivery.......
After having my 2nd I was given a copy of what Im guessing are casenotes from the midwife. It has all the details on it ie times, pain relief, cervical checks, bubs presentation, contraction rates etc etc Would that be a summary of the paperwork she was filling out when I was in labour? I was surprised to be given it but my OB handed it over knowing a) we move alot and b) Id probably end up having another baby.
No one likes to hear they may have a) made a bad choice based on wrong information supplied by your Dr, or b) blindly trusted a Dr who DIDNT have their best interests at heart. I would hate to have come to terms with a birth I never intended on and then suddenly via statistics discover that it was uneccesary in the first place. Same goes for accessing your own medical records. Would open up a whole can of lawsuits on OBs and hospitals for malpractice (and I consider unneccesary procedures performed on misinformed women malpractice).
Take for instance a person I know. She's in her early 20s, had an emergency csection for her first baby as she was 10 days overdue and he was over 9lbs. She laboured for 3 days/2 failed inductions, never got past 4cm and eventually he had to come out. Thats fine with her. I met her when he was 6wks old and told her that she didnt need to worry about a csection next time just because she had one first time round. She was SHOCKED about this because her hospital told her otherwise. So she was due with her second baby 11mths after #1 and they told her no VBAC/induction because of time-frame, risk of rupture blah blah. Fair enough I guess BUT she ended up going into labour on her own early, got to the hospital in established labour at 5cm with no real issues and they scaremongered her into having a csection! Gave her the "Your baby will die, youll rupture, bleed to death, stop progressing" bull. Considering a) she was in no pain bar contractions and b) her first csection was failure to progress after 2 failed inductions BUT she established labour and dialated further than she had 1st time round ON HER OWN. Pure laziness on the hospitals part and Im betting their statistics reflect this. I was horrified to hear her story afterwards. Bloody disgusting. Now she is pregnant with #3 12mths after 2 c/s and she is planning a Vba2c. No reason to think she wont get it either but she knows she'll come up against heavy opposition from the Drs here even though any reason they could possibly come up with as to why she shouldnt VBAC would be pure scaremongering again.
That is a prime example why statistics SHOULD be available on everything related to birthing, not just c/s rates.
Last edited by Trillian; November 24th, 2008 at 12:45 PM. : Removing inflaming comments
Registered User
Most hospitals in NSW, not sure about other states fill in a computer database with all the details that provide the stats. We then give each women a copy of this on discharge so she has it for her own record. If the hospital has the data the woman also has the right to it.
Re writing info during labour, we document timing of contractions, length & strength, maternal pulse, fetal heart & during the pushing stage we record the fetal heart at least five minutely.
It is a shame that not all hospitals request the right of the woman to birth how she wants provided it is safe. I'm glad that I work in a hospital that tries to cater for women's needs and wants, esp with VBAC & midwifery care. I feel for women who don't have choice purely because they live in a rural area with only one option for where they birth or who provides their care.
BellyBelly Life Subscriber
Interesting. I had DS in a private hospital and received no paperwork. Had DD in public (coz she was prem) and received all the paperwork.. summary of everything that happened.
I take it private hospitals don't even have to do this? Bit like doctors just keeping their own notes on your visits but we never really see our own files?
I felt really strange at the GP's yesterday when she got out Kayla's file with correspondence from the Paed in it.. it's like I was hearing/reading stuff that I never knew! They were basically summaries of our visits, but he kinda just made his observations and wrote to my GP but never really talked to me about anything. (bit different to what we're talking about.. but it did feel strange, and makes me wonder what the notes are on my first birth! even tho I was there and know what happened)
Definitely think we should have easy access to our own information as well as hospital statistics in all areas of health. If I want to know how many amputations there are due to staff infections if i was going in to have an ingrown nail removed.. I should be able to know! Just the same, I'd want to know how many c/s were performed due to intervention if I was going in to have a vaginal birth!
Anna - I notice you live at Bushland Beach, did you deliver your 2nd bub at TTH? This is where I work and we give the mums as much as we can documentationwise so it can be utilised for follow up care and for their next bub if they move. We usually include perinatal data sheet, mums and bubs careplan for the entire time you are in hospital, antenatal care details and discharge summary. We dont usually include your partogram from what you have mentioned but thats great if you have that too. Its fantastic to hear you are using our new birth centre for this bub, who are your midwives? All 4 of them are excellent as you probably know by now. All the best!
Leanne
Registered User
Hey Liz, if you want to read your hospital notes you should be able to do so under the freedom of information act. You may have to pay a small fee (I think around $30?) for the time that goes into retrieving your file, etc, but you can certainly read everything they've written about you.
Registered User
Leanne - nope I had my first in Perth at Mercy Private and my second at Wodonga Regional (Vic) and they are who I got my notes from. Jeanine is my midwife here (and handy to as she lives right near me) and I adore her. But every midwife Ive met has been fabulous. I think Vanessa is her backup and my neighbour who lives being me (Shena, Shayna, Shea? Crud my memory sucks lol) works in the birth suite too.
Last edited by Freya; November 24th, 2008 at 12:24 PM.
Shona from the UK? She's lovely too. She lives out there I know at Forest Shores or whatever the new estate is called. Bet you're getting excited, you have excellent support with Jeanine, all the best!
Leanne
Registered User
Shona thats it lol Yep her and her hubby are lovely. Nice to hear good things about my care providers not that I was worried at all
Registered User
Well..... I changed my vote after reading allllllll this. I did not vote when I first posted, but have now gone in and voted YES. I was initially totally taken by the "name and shame" that I couldnt to see past that SHAME word, to the knowledge that needs to be out there. As I said in my earlier post, and as per Hoobley, I agree though, that there does need to be more than just a blanket section percentage, and that all birth stats need to be published for women to make an informed choice.
BellyBelly Life Subscriber
Yes - 43% (618 votes)
No - 42% (610 votes)
Only in extreme cases - 13% (194 votes)
Total of 1422 votes
This poll doesn't carry any weight anywhere tho does it?
Wouldn't it be nice if it was put up in parliment though...would love to sit in a nd listen on that day
maybe we could partician so a bill could be passed
I vote Yes!
Hi everyone,
I am not sure how to vote but I would say Yes.
My last baby was born via caeser and in my eyes there was no need. My doctor was saying he (my son) could be born naturally but her boss (who I never met and wasnt even there) told her by phone to do a caeser. I was upset as I never want another one after my first baby was a caeser. When we got up to theatre my doctor said she would check me again and said good news I can deliver right now no need for a caeser, I was so happy, until the phone rang - yep her boss again and Ihad a caeser. The next day I ask the same doctor (off the record) was the caeser necessary and she said no, that he (my son) could have been delivered normal. When I ask why she didnt do this she said she had to do what her boss ordered (I always thought the mother was in control hmmm) and that the hospital has to do so many caesers (more money for them). So i think hospitals caeser records should be available to expecting parents so they can decide!
Just voted
Just voted yes and this is the results so far
Yes 43% (619 votes)
No 42% (611 votes)
Only in extreme cases 13% (194 votes)
Total votes Total of 1424 votes
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