Kendall Regional in Florida Boasts 70 Percent C-Section Rate
Saturday, May 9, 2009 at 10:32AM
Navelgazing Midwife alerted her friends to the article Births on cue: C-sections soar in S. Florida in the Miami Herald. I periodically babble about how I don’t think the general public will really care about the c-section rate until it crosses the 50 percent mark. When there is a greater than fifty percent chance that their friend, partner or sister will leave the hospital with vaginal bypass surgery, the general public will be shocked.
The fifth horseman of the apocalypse just rode into to Miami-Dade County and is cantering around Kendall Regional Medical Center.
Last year, for the first time, more babies in Miami-Dade County were born by cesarean section than were born vaginally, according to state records, and Broward’s not far behind, with a rate of 43.7 percent — both far above the national average.
At Kendall Regional Medical Center in Southwest Miami-Dade, seven out of 10 babies were delivered by C-section, a rate that University of Miami obstetrician Gene Burkett called “just astounding.”
Douglas Richards, a professor of obstetrics-gynecology at the University of Florida says c-sections are fast, easy, pain-free and make women so happy!
Traditionally, many doctors have warned against cesareans because of the risks anytime a patient is cut open. ”Definitely surgery always has a chance of a serious complication,” said Douglas Richards, a professor of obstetrics-gynecology at the University of Florida.
Still, in recent years, such warnings have been muted. ”The risks and benefits are much more balanced than they used to be,” Richards said. “Cesareans have become so safe and relatively easy for women.”
He means in particular planned C-sections — ”no rushing around, the baby doesn’t have to come out right away.” Improved anesthetics allow patients to rebound quickly. “They’re happy and pain-free and walking around the first day. Many go home after 48 hours.”
Dr. Richard can be reached directly via e-mail at drichard@ufl.edu or by phone at (352) 273-7685. Leave a message about your happy c-section.
The article also features the cliché motherblamer quotes from various “experts,” such as too old, too fat, multiples and more.
Hospitals with rates higher than 50 percent were:
South Miami (59.9)
Mercy (58)
Hialeah (52)
Baptist (50.3)
Jackson Memorial (50.4)
Holy Cross (51.6)
Hospital PR Clean-up?
Many of the hospitals didn’t want to discuss cesareans. Kendall Regional spokesman Peter Jude acknowledged the AHCA numbers were correct and said the hospital is “first and foremost committed to the well being and health of our mothers and infants. There are a number of factors patients and physicians consider when determining the delivery method.”
Berrios at South Miami said her hospital has been designated a center for high-risk cases and was close to an infertility clinic, where many of the patients had various risk factors, including multiple fetuses.
Jackson Memorial’s rate is high because the hospital gets most of the high-risk births for the entire county, said Burkett, noting that he had just been notified a woman carrying a fetus with heart problems was on her way from the Virgin Islands.
While supporting many reasons for C-sections, Richards in Gainesville emphasized he didn’t want to appear to be endorsing rates of 50 percent to 70 percent. ”That’s pretty astounding.” He noted one reason “not to have a more liberal cesarean policy is that babies born without labor tend to have more respiratory problems.”
Still, when Richards and three other ob-gyns were asked whether there was an upper limit on how high the C-section rate could go, in South Florida or the nation, none wanted to venture a guess. ”We just don’t know,” Berrios said.
Dr. Zulma Berrios might like to know that doctors have the power to curtail the c-section rate lest they be left looking like incompetent, ignorant boobs. You can call her at (305) 669-1523.
Peter Jude is Kendall Regional’s spokesperson. His number is (305) 228-5451.
Warn Your Floridian Friends! Tell Them They Have Options.
The Birth Place run by CPM Jennie Joseph
Baby Love Birth Center run by Samantha McCormick
The Miami Maternity Center (featured in the hit Discovery Health Channel series, “House of Babies”) run by Shari Daniels.
The Florida Midwives Web site gives women a place to search for a midwife.
The Birth Survey results are live and women can search for reviews on physicians and midwives.
File a Complaint Against Your Hospital for Unnecessary Cesarean or VBAC Ban
For directions from the JCAHO regarding how to file a complaint, call:
1-800-994-6610 between 8:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. Central Standard Time.
Start with an e-mail to complaint@jcaho.org or fax the Office of Quality Monitoring at (630) 792-5636
Mail: Office of Quality Monitoring
Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations
One Renaissance Blvd.
Oakbrook Terrace, IL 60181
Name and Shame
In April, when Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston experienced a MRSA outbreak, BIDMC CEO Paul Levy wrote about it on his blog, Running a Hospital, before the media caught wind of the story. His hospital has a 42 percent c-section rate and while the MRSA outbreak which affected more than 30 mothers and newborns could happen anywhere, the high c-section rate makes women more vulnerable to nosocomial infection and should be reduced immediately.
In a follow-up post, Levy wrote about deciding to post about the MRSA outbreak:
In so doing, I show us for what we are in real time, warts and all. This makes us vulnerable to nasty anonymous commenters in the blogosphere, as well as to people who think they benefit from embarrassing us and making us uncomfortable. And, even a few of my board members have said, from time time, “Transparency is one thing, but did you have to post that?”
The truth is, hospital administrators should feel uncomfortable and should harness those feelings of guilt and shame to make positive changes in their hospital, like telling their OB/GYN staff to stop performing so many unnecesareans and unethically turning low-risk women into high-risk patients with each unnecessary cut of a scalpel.
Reader Comments (34)
Florida is dangerous for women and children. This is sad. What a waste of money. And we wonder what is wrong with children...the problems that they have...mothers...and the problems that they have...
Seventy percent? Like, a seven, and then a zero...percent? Of all births? Holy fishsticks. I'm really not sure I can come up with a more suitable, and still socially acceptable, phrase.
Excuse me but I just vomited in my mouth a little. A 70% C-Section rate! WTF? This is beyond crazy. I have worked in some of the highest risk OB departments in the country (one that has the highest amount of deliveries in the country, and is a trauma center, and has an OB ICU, and has one of the most successful IVF programs in the country, and cares for terminaly ill pregnant patients, etc, etc) and it has a C-Section rate of only 28%! I call a major "Code-Bullshit" on this Florida doctor. A C/S rate of 70% is malpractice, pure and simple. Seriously, let's cut this OB's abdomen open and see how pain free it is. He also has to breastfeed a newborn, and get up ever two hours to care for it with a fresh abdominal incision while he is at it. Good Grief Charlie Brown! I am flabbergasted I will be posting this story at work. Thanks Jill!!
Glad you came by to call your patented Code Bullshit. 70% is beyond ridiculous. I was more irked by the PR guy claiming the health of mothers and babies comes first. Umm, ok.
I think some women might be pain-free if theyre heavily medicated in their discharge visit with their doc. They don't see them at home getting kicked in the gut while breastfeeding a wiggly newborn or just being too tired from recovery to do anything. I've read a handful of accounts of women who say they snap right back and are walking around the house taking care of their kids in days. Not typical.
Was it clear that the part about the Beth Israel MRSA commentary had nothing to do with MRSA? The CEO handled it great. Honest and forthright... what more could you want? In fact, I just visited someone in the hospital last night who had MRSA. It happens.
But not wanting people to make them feel uncomfortable? Please. If something like a 42% or 70% c-section rate embarrasses hospital admin or makes them feel uncomfortable then they should DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT. Maybe think about the discomfort the women being unnecessarily operated upon are feeling and then see if someone on the internet still makes them feel uncomfortable.
Can I send him an email that tells him he's a douche? I'd like to see someone cut the man in half and then tell everyone how much he loved it. No big deal, he'll be walking around, happy and whistling in just 48 hours. I think he may be taking the drugs he sends his patients home on.
Jenny, if you hadn't just made me laugh so hard, I would have said "Let's be appropriate, now."
Official reply: Please don't tell anyone I told you to tell them they are a douche.
Post script: You are entitled to your thoughts on the extreme douchebaggery associated with a 70 percent c-section rate. It's so horrifyingly inappropriate that it makes my hair stand on end when I think about it.
I work with a nurse who did some travel nursing in Florida. I do not know what hospital she worked at. She told me when she came back,more than a year ago, that they had an astronomical section rate. She said they would do inductions, then call them failure to progress and cut them by lunch.
This is a total travesty. Pain free c/section? yeah, thats why i take care of ladies in the recovery room after their csections and some of them are crying in pain! (some are pain free. some really aren't). Thats why you can get a PCA pump and loads of IV drugs AFTER your csection, you know, b/c it doesn't hurt.
Why do they always pull the "high risk facility" card to justify a high section rate? my hospital is the perinatal referral center for the area, high risk moms and babies-yes, we have a high section rate (31-33 percent), but certainly not close to 70.
How can anyone think major surgery is pain free and safe?
That's right Rose, I had a C-Section and it was not pain free. It was a much harder recovery than my vaginal birth. I lived in a three story walk-up and I was petrified to carry my new baby up and down those stairs with my fresh abdominal incision. I could not turn in bed without waking up in pain. It sucked. "C-Sections Suck!" I am going to print T-shirts.
Rose asked: "How can anyone think major surgery is pain free and safe?"
In the absence of legitimate risk factors that would balance out the risks of abdominal surgery, I don't know. Maybe if I were the one at the helm performing five of them a day, I'd feel pretty cocky about cesareans?
I didn't know you were in a high-risk hospital. You've probably see it all. I'm glad they have someone like you there.
I live in NorthWest Florida and was recently told by an OB that I have a "50/50 chance" of having a VBAC.... and I've ALREADY HAD A VBAC! Thankfully, I was just seeing him for a VBAC consult. I'm seeing a CNM, who rolled her eyes when I told her what the doctor said.
Sorry, I don't usually talk like that, however, my ultimate goal in life is getting people to laugh at inappropriate comments. You should come to Sunday school with me.
I'll keep it clean from now on.
That is really astounding. An one of the top 100 hospitals in the country, eh? Wow.
vbacwarrior- I read that post in which you discussed your measly 50-50 chances (of having another VBAC after already having one?! What?!) I believe you titled it "This is Going to Get Ugly," right?
I'm so glad you found that midwife. If I lived in your neck of the woods, I'd come be your doula. =)
Arwen, I'd say it's in the top 100 alright. Just maybe a different top 100 list than their web site was bragging about, but oh well.
Here's the letter I wrote to the sOB you mentioned -
Dr. Richards,
In a recent statement to a local paper regarding the astounding cesarean rates in your county, you are quoted as saying “The risks and benefits are much more balanced than they used to be,” and “Cesareans have become so safe and relatively easy for women.” The c-section rate in your county is 6 times higher than what is recommended by the World Health Organization, and you believe that these surgeries are “safe and easy for women?”
I have to say that I am shocked and appalled at your dismissal of this often incredibly painful and traumatizing experience. I suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder from my “relatively easy” surgery, as you’d call it – and I’m not alone. Many thousands of women every year are suffering from serious emotional and physical after effects of these surgeries. My depression and trauma almost cost my son his mother at certain low points, and nothing healed those wounds until I got my VBAC 2 years later – a VBAC that no surgeon wanted me to have (without any medical justification whatsoever for their attitude.) I birthed – notice I said birthed, not surgically removed – a 10 lb baby vaginally the second time around, after a surgeon told me I’d never birth a baby because he couldn’t be bothered to wait around and let my labors progress naturally.
For a physician, you sure know very little about birth. If you want to see the real cost of these surgeries, look at the rising rates of PPD and PTSD in this country. Look at the embarrassing infant and maternal mortality rates in a country obsessed with surgical “birth.” Look at the physical and emotional toll these surgeries are taking on our women and then you can tell me whether you think they’re “easy.”
“Easy” for whom, Dr. Richards? I think you meant “easier” for YOU.
Regards,
“Easy” for whom, Dr. Richards? I think you meant “easier” for YOU.
Well put, Gina. When you don't have to see the aftermath or lasting physical and emotional effects of your decision to section a woman, it sure does seem easy, happy and pain-free to take the Insta-baby route.
I'm one of those statitistics! October 2007 I was scared into being induced at Baptist Kendall (actually dr. dreadful was going on vacation I found out in an unfortunate way) and I am STILL in pain! Yes, 20 months later!!! I still deal with the guilt of letting the moron of a doctor scare me into induction, not progressing, baby heart rate slowing and "emergency" c-sect.
Pain free? Hum-bug! I would love to cut open the birth rapist who did this to me and my baby and see exactly how delighted he is coming home...and let's just give him one of those new-born baby dolls and see if he can care for it with joy (I wouldn't trust him with a REAL baby!).
As for the "safe" card? Who are they trying to fool? I developed an infection that left my abdomen red and hot and extremely uncomfortable. Where was dr. induction when I needed him? On vacation, of course! So they gave me MORE pain meds (for that pain-free c-section) and antibiotics to rid the infection.
Not a single day goes by that this doesn't affect me negatively.
Keep talking about it, Tina. I'm so glad you came by. Vent freely here if you’re comfortable, okay?
I wish-- really wish-- I couldn't say that I've heard your story a thousand times. I'm so sorry the last 20 months have been such a struggle, worsened by knowing that your baby's birth was scheduled around some jerk’s VACATION PLANS.
The term "birth rapist" is so telling. Feeling like her body was unnecessarily violated and her trust taken advantage of for someone else's convenience can leave a woman feeling ashamed, guilty and powerless. Then to add insult to injury, you read doctors talk about how women like their c-sections, that they don't hurt that much and are so safe and easy. Throw in the minimalizing technique of "You should feel HAPPY because you have a healthy baby" and you have a typical misogynistic rape apologist campaign.
I don't think that most people understand how this feels because c-sections are Coke and vaginal births are Pepsi and what's the difference, they ask? One of the standard defense mechanisms is to pathologize the woman's reaction, claiming that the feeling of being raped at birth is only something one would hear from someone with previous abuse. Wash hands, walk away, not my fault. Or claiming that because a woman checked into a hospital and consented to the induction, she therefore consents to everything that happens after that. It starts to sound a lot like, She wore a short skirt, she drank three glasses of wine, she said she wanted it at first, etc. Wash hands, walk away, not my fault. It’s a new version of “boys will be boys.”
I could write an essay here, Tina. I think what I’m trying to say is that some people will scoff at your feelings. However, there are a lot of us who get it—more and more every year, in fact, as the c-section rate goes higher and higher. And there is a light at the end of a tunnel after a traumatic birth experience.
I am sorry for you and for all of the women at Kendall Regional who went in to give birth and didn’t know that their doctors had ulterior motives of needing to perform as many c-sections as possible because malpractice insurance is too costly in Florida and they need to use c-sections as a phony shield from litigation. The least they could do is not top it all off with informing us all that the laydeez just love their pain-free c-sections, right?
My e-mail is unnecesarean at gmail dot com if you ever need help finding resources or anything.
Jill
Hi Tina,
I'm incredibly sorry that you had such a bad experience and were pressured into an induction that led to a section. It's an all too common occurrence, as you now know, especially in Florida. It is unacceptable that so many doctors are using scare tactics and worst-case scenario statistics instead of evidence-based care and common sense.
I noticed that you used the term 'birth rapist', an issue which I have written about previously. If you feel comfortable sharing, I would be interested to know if you experienced a vaginal assault (be it with an instrument, internal monitor or hand) or if you use the term 'birth rape' in a more broad sense, to mean that you felt forced, coerced or intimidated into unwanted procedures that left you feeling violated. If you don't want to share here, you can send an email to Jill who will pass it along to me.
Again, I'm sorry that you have experienced this and I wish you strength on the road to healing.