Blog #10 - Gawande, Goer

Henci Goer’s article, How Childbirth Went Industrial: A Deconstruction, serves as a response to Atul Gawande’s article, How Childbirth Went Industrial. Goer criticizes Gawande for supporting the widespread use of Caesarian Sections and citing unreliable statistics about the safety of this procedure. Goer’s main point is that Caesarian Sections are being performed needlessly on healthy women in order to benefit the obstetricians and with little concern about the woman’s health. Obstetricians benefit from planned C-sections because they can be scheduled ahead of time so that the physicians know exactly when the pregnancy will occur. Also these procedures are relatively simple to learn and perform as opposed to older techniques such as the use of forceps. Using forceps successfully during childbirth was very difficult and considered an art by most doctors. The Caesarian section was used as a means of standardizing child birth so that all doctors could consistently perform the procedure successfully. Goer argues that despite the statistics and data available, C-sections are not as safe for mothers as natural child birth. She blames the misleading data on the fact that most of the statistics only account for the safety of the child during birth, and not for the short and long term damage the procedure causes for the mother. Some of these damages include, deep venous clots, pulmonary embolism, stroke, surgical injury to bladder, bowel, ureters, anesthetic complications, infection, chronic pain, infertility, ectopic pregnancy, uterine rupture, low birth weight and preterm birth, congenital malformation and central nervous system injury. In his article, Gawande praised obstetricians of the early twentieth century for experimenting with different birthing techniques without waiting for government approval or research trials to be conducted in order evaluate safety and effectiveness. When I read Gawande’s statement I was shocked to learn how little doctors cared about the safety of pregnant women. It seems ridiculous that not only would doctors be performing un-tested procedures on women, but that Gawande would approve of this practice. He sites the innovative procedures that arose from this practice but he never mentioned the failed techniques that led to the deaths of many women. I agree with many of Goer’s arguments; however I feel that in many cases Caesarian Sections can be the safest way to deliver a child. I strongly disagree with doctors performing C-sections on completely healthy women. In this case I do believe that doctors and women are more concerned with the short term benefits of this procedure and not considering the long term detrimental affects that Caesarian sections cause.

Both Presidential candidates have distinct views on abortion. Barack Obama is staunchly pro-choice and believes that it is important for women to have the option to terminate a pregnancy. Obama states, “I think that most Americans recognize that this is a profoundly difficult issue for the women and families who make these decisions. They don't make them casually. And I trust women to make these decisions, in conjunction with their doctors and their families and their clergy.” Barack Obama has also voiced his disapproval on the partial birth legislation passed recently by the Supreme Court. He states that this legislation violates previous legislation that protects the health of all pregnant women. The ban on Partial Birth Abortion disregards the health of the mother and focuses solely on the rights of the fetus and the moral issues behind the procedure. “As Justice Ginsburg emphasized in her dissenting opinion, this ruling signals an alarming willingness on the part of the conservative majority to disregard its prior rulings respecting a woman's medical concerns and the very personal decisions between a doctor and patient." John McCain on the other hand strongly opposes abortion and has recently stated that the Supreme Court decision, Roe v. Wade, should be overturned. Also McCain strongly supports the ban on Partial Birth Abortions stating that, “Today's Supreme Court ruling is a victory for those who cherish the sanctity of life and integrity of the judiciary. The ruling ensures that an unacceptable and unjustifiable practice will not be carried out on our innocent children...as we move forward, it is critically important that our party continues to stand on the side of life.” John McCain’s statement clearly illustrates his belief that a fetus’ rights are paramount to a mother’s rights.