C-Section Deliveries

Many doctors and their pregnant patients opt to schedule a C-section for birth rather than waiting for nature to take its course. Sometimes these C-sections are scheduled because the doctor has a planned vacation, conference, or other important event. Other C-sections are scheduled because the woman is “too posh to push.” While the C-section is sometimes medically necessary, many other times it is simply used for the sake of convenience. This makes everyone’s day planners look much better but has the potential of exposing the baby to a greater chance of complications.

One of the biggest problems with scheduling a C-section is that it basically says that we are smarter than nature. Babies come when they are ready to come. No one has quite figured out why or how babies decide they are ready to be born. By scheduling the C-section, we take the decision out of the hands of nature and insert our own medical knowledge in its place. Since we have not figured out how babies decide they are finished staying in the womb and are ready to be born, the scheduled C-section might introduce a baby to a world it is not ready to enter.

Studies have shown that performing a C-section prior to the 40th week of pregnancy has a dramatic increase in the chances of there being complications experienced. At the same time, scheduling a C-section for a baby after the 40th week of pregnancy can also result in complications. This seems like an obvious way to schedule things but pregnancy is another inexact science. It is very difficult to determine when exactly week 1 started which makes it difficult to determine when exactly week 40 starts.

In addition to the increased chances of complications, C-sections are also difficult on the mother. Not only does she have to contend with a newborn that may or may not like to sleep a lot but she also has to recuperate from surgery. This surgery requires cutting through a major muscle group in order to get to the baby and can require some serious efforts for recuperation.

Overall, C-sections are excellent tools for medical emergencies but might not be the best choice for convenience.

Contact a Philadelphia Birth Injury Attorney

If your baby has suffered complications after birth due to a scheduled C-section, contact the Philadelphia medical malpractice attorneys of Lowenthal & Abrams, P.C., at 215-238-1130.