Looks like hospital regulators are trying to reduce first-time cesareans and too-early inductions.

Check out the AP’s article here.

The burden of so many cesareans is starting to weigh on more than just the women and families involved.  Regulators are beginning to hold practitioners and hospitals accountable:

Hospitals also will have to report cesareans for first-time mothers, too often a result of a failed induction.

“That’s not a good outcome for the baby or the mom,” says joint commission president Dr. Mark Chassin. “We believe this will be a very important driver of improvement in perinatal care.”

It’s time that those who set the rules and protocols for hospital birth start to realize that unnecessary cesareans are not a good outcome -  as more babies have respiratory problems, moms have much longer and more difficult recoveries while simultaneously caring for a newborn and possibly other small children, and many moms suffer from post-op infections, not to mention many other risks and side-affects of major abdominal surgery.

For more info on inductions check out Henci Goer’s articles on elective induction and due dates. Henci Goer has made combing the medical research for best practices and translating that evidence for the rest of us her life’s work.  She is the author of The Thinking Woman’s Guide to a Better Birth.

Nursing Birth gives some great advice in her “Don’t Let This Happen to You” series when describing how one couple dealt with an induction.   Nursing Birth accurately describes the birthing climate in many of today’s hospitals and writes from an evidence-based point of view.

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