“Spa-like atmosphere”
The Morning Call has a new parenting blog which has had some interesting posts. A recent one though, I found to be mildly amusing. The post, which I’d say is little more than an advertisement, gushes with enthusiasm about the new maternity unit opening at Grandview Hospital which is supposedly “spa like.” Actually, I discovered that some of the text of the blog post is lifted directly from the hospital website–without acknowledgement. The writer contrasts it with “many area hospitals [where] two women are squeezed into one room – creating a great deal of stress for a postpartum, sleep-deprived individual in the hours after she delivers.”
I’m sure Grandview Hospital is thankful for the free advertising. 
Now for some “truth in advertising.” As a childbirth educator and doula, I can assure my readers that “many” area hospitals do NOT have shared maternity rooms. In the past 10 years, only one of the 5 hospitals (Easton, Lehigh Valley, St. Lukes Allentown & Bethlehem, Sacred Heart) with maternity units in the Lehigh Valley has had shared rooms, and that is in the post-partum unit at St. Luke’s Allentown–a situation that started occurring in 2001 for some moms, and by about 2004 was happening for most women birthing there. I believe they may be back to private rooms now though with the recent expansion. When I birthed there in 1998 and 2000 you actually stayed in the same room for your entire labor, delivery, and recovery time, which was really nice. I wish they would go back to that.
With a cesarean rate in 2007 of 34.5% , Grandview is only topped by one hospital in the Lehigh Valley (Sacred Heart) in the percentage of women leaving the maternity unit with an abdominal scar. The national cesarean rate in 2007 was 31.8%, and PA hovered just over 30% (still both atrociously high since WHO says that a cesarean rate above 10-15% is not medically justified), so Grandview is well below par on that measure. I certainly don’t go to a spa expecting to come out having had major abdominal surgery.
And what happens once you get that abdominal scar? Well Grandview Hospital does not “allow” VBAC. This is what would be considered a “de facto” ban, but here is what was told to a caller on behalf of ICAN on January 31 of this year:
They do VBACs rarely and usually because mom arrives ready to deliver. Woman was very nice and actually got a DOCTOR on the phone who gave me the names of some doctors at St Lukes that will do VBACs. She said they don’t have the anesthesiologists on staff like St Luke’s does.
When they say they “do VBAC’s rarely” what that boils down to is that they had 2 VBAC’s in 2007, and 146 repeat cesareans, so the VBAC rate was 1.4%. And how is it that they arrive at this? Well I was told within the past month by one woman that her Dr. told her that the HOSPITAL had placed the ban, while the folks at the hospital told the ICAN caller that it was a “defacto” ban caused by no care providers being willing to attend VBAC. So no one is wanting to take responsibility for this ban. At least the Dr. was willing to say that VBAC was a reasonable option for the woman I spoke to. More typcally, in order to keep the business, the care provider will tell the expectant woman that VBAC is unnecessarily dangerous, and thus the ban is really for her own good—discouraging her from seeking out an alternate care provider who will support her rights.
Now lets take a moment to consider that statement “they don’t have the anesthesiologists on staff like St. Luke’s does.” What they are saying is that they don’t have in house 24/7 anesthesia coverage, so if an emergency occurs, they have to wait for an anesthesiologist to arrive at the hospital before they can begin a cesarean.
Since emergencies in any labor such as placental abruption (0.6% risk), cord prolapse (0.14-0.62% of labors), and acute fetal distress (3.9%) combined occur as much as 10 times more commonly than the 0.5% risk of uterine rupture with VBAC, Henci Goer was very right when she stated that if a hospital isn’t safe enough to handle a VBAC emergency, it isn’t safe enough to handle any labor emergency. I have to wonder, since fetal distress is much more common when Pitocin is used in labor, do the care providers at Grandview restrict their use of Pitocin to only when an anesthesiologist is in house? Oh, what a silly question. Of course they wouldn’t do that.
So my perception is that this hospital is far from “spa-like,” but rather is dangerous for women and babies who desire to avoid the risks inherrant in over-use of cesarean surgery.
I will say that I’m glad to hear that Grandview is doing renovations, and that the renovations address some of the issues like triage rooms with no doors, lack of private showers in labor rooms, and tiny labor rooms. But in the end, all of these changes are little more than pretty wrapping paper encasing a dangerous gift—the wrapping paper will not make the “gift” any safer.
Tags: cesarean, forced cesarean, Grandview Hospital, hospital birth, pitocin, VBAC/Cesarean
I’ve been meaning to write about that article for a while, I kinda put it o the back burner. THanks for reminding me!
I had two experiences with Grandview. The first was at 17 weeks pregnant. I had some cramping and called my midwife. Since I was over an hour away from her and only 10 minutes from Grandview she recommended going there. She suspected I had a budding UTI that was causing irritation to my uterus. They saw me in the ER. I know the ER isn’t maternity and they may not have the best experience, but you’d think they’d know where the uterus is. The nurse tried to find the baby’s heartbeat in my stomach - right under my boobs. At 17 weeks I barely had a belly and my baby bump was, oh, 10 inches lower. She told me she was sorry and couldn’t find the heartbeat, indicating something was wrong. Thankfully, I knew better and guided her to the correct location. The ER doc was rude. When I told him what my midwife suspected he asked if I ever saw a “real doctor.” Now, that “real doctor” attitude is prevalent in this hospital it seems.
He then made a quip about midwives and delivering babies on straw mats. Again, I reminded him of what my midwife suspected and he made a show of being put out and asked for a urine sample. I asked if they would run a FULL urinalysis and he said yes. He came back and said my urine was clear, my midwife was wrong. My official diagnosis was “a nervous… Read More first time mother.” Now, I may have been a first time mother but I’m not an idiot. I didn’t have anymore cramping, but experienced a dull backache the next day. I ran my own urine sample at my clinic . I had an insane UTI…very severe. We also ran my blood values at my clinic and my kidney values were a little elevated as the infection had likely traveled up. I called my midwife who was flat out pissed at Grandview and she called in meds for me. I called Grandview to double check my “clear” urinalysis to find that they never ran a full UA, they just did a dipstick. I specialize in laboratory science and I know that the dipstick isn’t worth squat when it comes to UTI’s. I had it out with their public relations department and they ended up subtracting my $100 co-pay.
My second experience was at 24 weeks and I was stuck going to them as they were 10 minutes away from my job. I was hit in the belly by a horse’s head. That maternity unit was a JOKE. I was wheeled past an open…um… Read More, closet?…with groggy mothers recovering from c-sections. They were all lined up in a row and out in the open. I was put into an empty labor room (since no one was presently in labor as they favor c-sections instead) to be monitored. It was tiny, dingy and uncomfortable. This is before renovations, but unless they are also renovating their maternity staff and their attitudes towards birth then I still think they stink. They were not nice AT ALL when they found out that I was under the care of a midwife and planned a birth center birth. The OB who “took care” of me asked if I was ever “going to see a real doctor” during my pregnancy and birth.
As you can see, they have a bit of prejudice about midwives as two separate docs asked if I ever saw a “real doctor.” I never recommend them to anyone for maternity care as I’ve heard horror stories from many people. In fact, no one I know has had a vaginal birth there. They have all been c-sections. I have a friend who will give birth there in a month and I fear for her.
I’m sorry to hijack this. I just realized I’m still really angry about them. lol
I just wanted to comment on Grandview’s position on VBAC’s as of late May/early June. I called when I found out Laurice had her privileges revoked and the woman I spoke to on the phone said they do not allow “elective VBAC’s” and they do not allow midwives to deliver there. I am assuming this was not just a “defacto” ban since it was stated to me as such.
My first child was born at Grandview, and surprise, surprise she was a C-section. I have heard of women that have had vaginal deliveries there, but they have only been women that have their babies in under 8 hours.
I was not planning on going back there anyway, but I wanted to know where each of the hospitals stood with VBAC’s
Oh, Jen That sounds awful!
Sigh. This old song & dance again, eh? I wrote a post about a similar New! Improved! maternity ward a few months ago: http://dou-la-la.blogspot.com/2009/07/article-on-swanky-new-l-departments.html
I love the bit about the Private! Labor! Rooms! too. Why don’t they go ahead and trumpet the fact that they don’t give laboring moms enemas and a shave, either? Come on. When are they going to get it? It’s not about the frills, it’s about the policies.