Australian doctor to conduct study to test whether vaginal deliveries are better than cesareans for healthy, low risk women

A news article released online this week detailed plans for a new study to be conducted by Dr. Stephen Robson, an associate professor of obstetrics at Australian National University.  Dr. Robson is recruiting 1000 women, 500 planning cesarean births and 500 planning vaginal births and will measure both physical and psychological outcomes, according to the article.

Reading the article leaves one with many questions.  Dr. Robson asks what would happen if it is proven that it is “safer” for a healthy mother to have a cesarean birth.  One is left wondering what he means by “safer.”  Is he only considering “safety” in terms of that first cesarean delivery?  Cesarean sections pose serious and documented medical risks to a mother’s health, and can have long lasting ramifications on her entire reproductive life.  Each subsequent cesarean increases the risk of serious placental complications which can be risky for both mother and baby, and cesareans increase the odds of secondary infertility, miscarriage and ectopic pregnancy in subsequent pregnancies.   For more information on the risks of cesareans, check out our Cesarean Fact Sheet.

Dr. Robson also posits that we could possibly “…do away with labour wards  forever and save hundreds of millions of dollars.”  Would a dramatic increase in cesarean deliveries really lower costs?  Wouldn’t there be the possibility that more newborns would require NICU stays for reasons ranging from preterm delivery to not getting the benefits of normal, physiologic birth?  What about the costs of the longer hospital stays, possible treatment of post-operative complications and the increased cost of performing the cesarean itself as opposed to the cost of a vaginal delivery?

Check out the article and leave your thoughts below.  What do you think the results of the study will be?  Do you think this could have an impact on whether women will opt for scheduled cesareans instead of vaginal births, at least in Australia?