Hi everyone, For your info I've sent the following message to the Today Show Producers this morning.
Barb. Dr Barbara Vernon Executive Officer Australian College of Midwives Inc Level 1, 97 Northbourne Ave TURNER ACT 2612 Ph: 02 6230 7333 Fax: 02 6230 6033 www.acmi.org.au Dear Today Show producers, I write on behalf of the Australian College of Midwives to express disappointment at your decision to highlight the estimated 20 millionth Australian by filming a planned caesarean section birth. At a time when Australia's rates of both planned and unplanned caesarean sections are soaring to 2 to 3 times international standards of best practice (10%-15% is recommended by the World Health Organisation as the maximum rate at which women and babies benefit from this procedure), your article this morning adds further to the popular misconception that caesarean section is a safe and appropriate everyday 'choice' for women. Evidence in medical journals now shows that there is a significant degree of medical over-servicing in maternity in Australia today, driven more by concerns about litigation than the best interests of women and their babies. Women themselves are the ones being blamed for high rates of caesarean section. Yet few journalists are asking the important questions - Why is it that women believe major abdominal surgery to be a safer way to have their baby than vaginal birth despite research evidence to the contrary? What does this say about the failure of our maternity care systems? What are they being told by their doctors? Are they being given evidence based advice? The most common reason for planned caesarean sections today is that the woman has had a previous caesarean section. Yet the evidence shows that even women with a previous caesarean, with few exceptions, are more likely to benefit from vaginal birth than from a repeat caesarean. A recent UK House of Commons report recommended that all women considering CS should be informed that the risk of dying from complications related to CS is 4 times higher than for vaginal birth, and 5-6 times for their baby. Not to mention the significant increased risks of problems like pos-operative infection, respiratory distress for the baby and post-natal depression. One can only hope that today's story highlights to women that it is desirable to avoid caesarean section whenever possible. It graphically portrayed that the woman was a bystander to her own babies birth, drugged and neglected in the background while her newborn baby's first experience of life was medical procedures from strangers on the infant resuscitation trolley. It is particularly unfortunate for both the baby and the mother that the hospital portrayed does not even provide for immediiate skin-to-skin contact between mother and baby despite this being accepted practice in other operating theatres, and supported by research evidence to have significant benefits both mother and baby. The College welcomes the Today's Show's interest in the important issue of childbirth. We would urge you to have more regard for the research evidence on best practice when deciding on how to portray this issue in the future. We would be happy to provide information on any area of pregnancy and childbirth should you be interested when preparing a future article. Yours sincerely, Dr Barbara Vernon Executive Officer Australian College of Midwives Inc Level 1, 97 Northbourne Ave TURNER ACT 2612 Ph: 02 6230 7333 Fax: 02 6230 6033 www.acmi.org.au -- This mailing list is sponsored by ACE Graphics. Visit <http://www.acegraphics.com.au> to subscribe or unsubscribe.
