Cesarean sections for Dollars
C-section rates higher at for-profit hospitals
Excerpts:
A database compiled from [California] state birthing records revealed that, all factors considered, women are at least 17 percent more likely to have a cesarean section at a for-profit hospital than at one that operates as a nonprofit. A surgical birth can bring in twice the revenue of a vaginal delivery.
In addition, some hospitals appear to be performing more C-sections for non-medical reasons - including a doctor's level of patience and the staffing schedules in maternity wards, according to interviews with health professionals.
Across the state, more women are having C-sections for a variety of reasons: a rise in obesity and the number of older mothers, fear of lawsuits among doctors and hospitals, and a growing cultural acceptance of the procedure. Rather than examine these well-known trends, California Watch looked at why individual hospitals are performing cesarean sections at higher rates than others.
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Some critics say the numbers provide ammunition to those who have long suspected that unnecessary C-sections are performed to help pad the bottom line.
"This data is compelling and strongly suggests, as many childbirth advocates currently suspect, that there may be a provable connection between profit and the cesarean rate," said Desirre Andrews, president of the International Cesarean Awareness Network, a nonprofit that would like to see C-sections only in cases of medical need.
Comment: I suspect this is a nationwide issue
The writer seems a little biased. I have always heard that it is safer, all things considered, to have a c-section. And if I was in that situation, I would consider the extra 1k worth the increased health safety, however small.
ReplyDeleteI personally think that Los Angeles causes C sections, since 9 of the top 15 hospitals for C sections are in LA county, with a few others in nearby Riverside, San Bernardino, and such. Must be the smog, or maybe that they've stolen so many sports teams from other places. :^)
ReplyDeleteSeriously, that's the quality of this work--it's just by one factor, when any good analyst knows there are any number of factors that ought to impact this.