Early in my career in childbirth, I could expect to see the previous year’s release of “vital” birth statistics show up on the PA Department of Health website by July or August. In past years for some reason the release of this data has gotten slower and slower. You may recall that the data for 2008 was released just before Christmas 2009.
Well the 2009 data was not quite so prompt. I waited for it not so patiently. I finally decided about 2 weeks ago while looking for the data late in the evening that I would call the Department of Health–but obviously I couldn’t call right then. When I did call, I was told that it was just put on the website the previous day. Amazingly, it had been—I just had kept the webpage open on my computer for several days before I remembered to call, and had not refreshed it. I did ask the representative I spoke with why it was taking so long to publish data, and all she could tell me was what I was told a few years ago—“improvements” with the birth certificate in 2003 have changed how data is collected. Hmmm…interesting “improvements.”
Well, with no further ado, here is the beginning of my evaluation of the 2009 data. Continue Reading…
Posted 2 years, 3 months ago at 2:44 am. 3 comments
In all the flurry about VBAC access and VBAC bans, sometimes the “primary” cesarean rate can get lost in the shuffle. I think the primary cesarean rate is the most misunderstood of all the cesarean statistics. I see the media mis-define it over and over, and even occassionally I see medical professionals misdefine it.
And yet, because a primary cesarean, is, by definition, the first cesarean a woman has, it may be, perhaps, her most important. Because it is the one that forever labels her as high risk in future pregnancies. As Joy Szabo and many women like her have found, having a vaginal birth after the cesarean, even having multiple vaginal births in ones history, does not erase the scarlet letter that a woman “earns” when she has that primary cesarean. Continue Reading…
Posted 3 years, 5 months ago at 11:30 pm. 3 comments
On the topic of VBAC bans, 19 hospitals in PA reported having “De Facto” bans (D), while 5 reported having “official” bans (B) in the survey done by ICAN in early 2009. Oddly, 2 of the hospitals reported to have a VBAC ban have VBAC rates over 10%–12.2% at Bloomsburg Hospital in Cambria County, and 14% at St Joseph Medical Center a bit closer to me in Reading, Berks County. I have to wonder if in each of these cases, the person who was answering the ICAN caller was simply unaware of what the policy was? Continue Reading…
Posted 3 years, 5 months ago at 7:30 pm. Add a comment
After publishing my initial post about the cesarean stats in PA, focussing on the Lehigh Valley, my goal was to continue on with an analysis of the whole state. Jill at The Unnecessarean “scooped” me slightly by posting the cesarean rate for all hospitals in PA, but I don’t mind. Thank you Jill, for jumping on board! The more voices, the merrier! Well…maybe not “merrier” on this topic…but we definitely need as many voices as possible if we want positive change.
I’m going to present a bit more analysis though still. I hope this is helpful for someone! Continue Reading…
Posted 3 years, 5 months ago at 7:05 pm. 3 comments
In an early Christmas present, the PA Department of Health has released birth data for 2008, including cesarean statistics by hospital.
The cesarean rate in PA in 2008 rose just under 3% over 2007, going from 30.05% to 30.86%. Most likely this will still keep us under the national average…but just barely. The VBAC rate dropped from 13.8% to 13.3%.
Looking more local to the Lehigh Valley, some of the results are very sobering. Overall, the combined data for the 5 hospitals in the Lehigh Valley with maternity units saw their cesarean rate Continue Reading…
Posted 3 years, 6 months ago at 12:43 am. 5 comments
