Tonight, my surgery has been on my mind because I just went to hear Dr. Mayer Eisenstein speak about his career, during which he has done more than 15,000 home births. He reminded me of two things that I learned the hard way:
1) Once you are admitted into the hospital, the clock starts ticking. Before long, you will have the baby--one way or the other.
2) Non-stress tests and other diagnostic screens are meritless (and will lead to you being admitted into the hospital, at which time the clock will start ticking, etc. etc.)
I started having contractions on Wednesday and by Friday, Dr. Claudia Holland had coerced me into a c-section.
I was at St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital on Wednesday at around noon having what had become a tri-weekly (I know! What was I thinking?!!) non-stress test and sonogram. The day before, Dr. Sharon Patrick (one of Dr. Holland's partners) had found 8 cm of fluids, but the sonographer on this day, Sharmista, said she only found 4 cm. (Sharmista was also the only sonographer out of several who kept getting fetal measurements that would make the baby macrosomic; in fact, my baby was 8 lbs 14 ou. at birth.)
The fact that each sonographer had such wildly different readings should have given me a clue that I should have refused to be tested.
Dr. Lois Brustman, a doctor in FEU (Fetal Evaluation Unit) who kept telling me to get a repeat cesarean each time I saw her, at first told me I could go home. When I got home, Dr. Holland called to tell me that Dr. Brustman and her had discussed it, and that I had to rush to the hospital.
When I arrived at the hospital, I was given another sonogram and this time, the doctor in question found 6 cm. of fluid. At this point, I should have been told to go home. Instead, he wanted to admit me and insert an I.V. immediately. My husband and I protested against the I.V., but he said that if there was an emergency, there might not be enough time to put one in.
At 5 a.m. Thursday morning, a nurse came in and started pitocin, which Dr. Holland had ordered without consultation with me. By 1 p.m., my water broke and then my fate was sealed.
Twenty-four hours later, Dr. Holland was shouting at me over the phone that I was "already scheduled" to be in the o.r. to be operated on by her partner, Dr. Kathryn Rutenberg.
The whole thing was like a textbook case of medical intervention leading to a cesarian.
A nurse said to me that obstetrics is a sub-category of surgery and that's what obstestricians know how to do. They don't know how to deliver babies. In other words, if the pregnancy isn't going perfectly, they have little knowledge of what to do, offer you options that are no choice at all. Whereas a midwife can tell you about different positions, using a breast-pump to induce labor, so on and so forth. Therefore, an obstetrician will either arrive just to catch the baby or to do the cutting.
1) Once you are admitted into the hospital, the clock starts ticking. Before long, you will have the baby--one way or the other.
2) Non-stress tests and other diagnostic screens are meritless (and will lead to you being admitted into the hospital, at which time the clock will start ticking, etc. etc.)
I started having contractions on Wednesday and by Friday, Dr. Claudia Holland had coerced me into a c-section.
I was at St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital on Wednesday at around noon having what had become a tri-weekly (I know! What was I thinking?!!) non-stress test and sonogram. The day before, Dr. Sharon Patrick (one of Dr. Holland's partners) had found 8 cm of fluids, but the sonographer on this day, Sharmista, said she only found 4 cm. (Sharmista was also the only sonographer out of several who kept getting fetal measurements that would make the baby macrosomic; in fact, my baby was 8 lbs 14 ou. at birth.)
The fact that each sonographer had such wildly different readings should have given me a clue that I should have refused to be tested.
Dr. Lois Brustman, a doctor in FEU (Fetal Evaluation Unit) who kept telling me to get a repeat cesarean each time I saw her, at first told me I could go home. When I got home, Dr. Holland called to tell me that Dr. Brustman and her had discussed it, and that I had to rush to the hospital.
When I arrived at the hospital, I was given another sonogram and this time, the doctor in question found 6 cm. of fluid. At this point, I should have been told to go home. Instead, he wanted to admit me and insert an I.V. immediately. My husband and I protested against the I.V., but he said that if there was an emergency, there might not be enough time to put one in.
At 5 a.m. Thursday morning, a nurse came in and started pitocin, which Dr. Holland had ordered without consultation with me. By 1 p.m., my water broke and then my fate was sealed.
Twenty-four hours later, Dr. Holland was shouting at me over the phone that I was "already scheduled" to be in the o.r. to be operated on by her partner, Dr. Kathryn Rutenberg.
The whole thing was like a textbook case of medical intervention leading to a cesarian.
A nurse said to me that obstetrics is a sub-category of surgery and that's what obstestricians know how to do. They don't know how to deliver babies. In other words, if the pregnancy isn't going perfectly, they have little knowledge of what to do, offer you options that are no choice at all. Whereas a midwife can tell you about different positions, using a breast-pump to induce labor, so on and so forth. Therefore, an obstetrician will either arrive just to catch the baby or to do the cutting.
posted by 4Moms2B at 7:38 PM
4 Comments:
I am a labor and delivery nurse and this account has big holes in it, it appears from reading this that you were trying for a v/ bac, that is vaginal birth after a previous c/section. if this is the case ,did you discuss this with dr holland. there are many dr.s and midwives that are comfortable w/ vbacs, dr holland may not have been one of them. the time to ask for a secound opinion is not when you are on the o.r. table. you absolutly must have signed a consent. also if you are infact someone who was a trial of labor, the safest thing is to have i.v. access. how many centimeters where you when you got to the hospital? how many were you when you took the epidural? how many hours were you allowed to labor befor you were "coersed" into a c/section?these questions are very important to a successful vbac. I dont the answer but I suspect that you were not tied down and cut against your will. for many women a home birth may be the best answer, certainly a birth center is a good comprimise, but for a trial of labor, unfortunately the hospital is the safest place to have a trial of labor unfortunately i have seen the devistating effects of a ruptured uterus, the baby is forever dammaged.. you dont mention how long you were alowed to labor, how big the baby was and how soon this trial of labor was after ypur 1st section. ( reads as tho you were a trying for a vbac, correct me if i am wrong). I am not excusing rediculous behavior on drs. part I have seen them make dubious decisions, but it is clear to me that the whole picture is not being given and this is somewhat of a smear campaign. I am sorry that you feel that your experiance was wrong, there are many of us out here who are trying to do the right thing.
J, Are you even reading my posts before commenting (as opposed to skimming)? I absolutely wrote down the answers to the questions you're asking. Don't make it sound like I'm trying to hide something. I absolutely mentioned how much my baby weighed, the length of my trial of labor, etc. It's cool if you want to attack me—this is an open board—but before you call this a smear campaign, at least read the posts carefully first. If I say I labored from Wed. noon until the next day and that the baby was 8 lbs 14. ou., don't write, "you don't mention how long you were alowed (sic) to labor, how big the baby was," etc.
And I say in my original post that I signed the consent form, which makes Dr. Holland's action of bursting into the O.R. screaming at me to give her verbal consent because she didn't want to be sued for assault or walk out of the hospital even more outrageous.
It occurs to me that you think I was saying that the coercion took place in the O.R. (I have to go back and read my post to see if that's unclear. Sorry for any confusion.) The coercion in fact took place in the hospital room with Dr. Rutenberg present and Dr. Holland angrily insisting over the phone that if we didn't do the surgery at the time she had scheduled (not because there was any medical need), the O.R. would be booked. Although by shouting at me to give her verbal consent, Dr. Holland presumably considered that verbal consent equal to or more authoritative than the consent forms I had already signed (otherwise, what's the point of asking for verbal consent?) And what I'm saying is that consent given on the O.R. table by a THREATENING doctor is NOT informed consent. I don't know how it could be considered such.
No, I wasn't "tied down and cut against my will" (well, actually my arms WERE literally tied down when she burst in screaming at me), but that is the problem with "patient rights" and "informed consent." Although I WANTED to say no, because I did not want to be operated on by a raving person, what real choice did I have? Leave the hospital and continue the labor in the lobby while I regained feeling in the bottom half of my body? Do you really think the situation I described even ALLOWS for careful decision-making?
If someone like a hospital administrator had given me a REAL choice, e.g., "Would you like Dr. Holland to continue the surgery, or would you like to wait for Dr. So-and-So, who can be here in 15 minutes" I would NEVER have said yes to her! But that's not the system in place. But the shouting in the O.R. was not the coercion, that was the abuse.
And yes, I discussed VBAC with Dr. Holland, what do you think? When I interviewed her she said she had a lot of experience with it. I do believe that Dr. Holland was acting within the guidelines of ACOG, but that doesn't mean she didn't trample my "patient rights" and treat me abusively and without thought to my feelings or birth plan. You may not believe this, but I was actually very calm and sensible before going to the O.R. I've heard of women who sobbed or shouted all the way to the O.R.
Your post, J, shows ignorance about the issues that patients face, and the fact that you're actually a labor and delivery nurse makes it especially sad. I hope that medical personnel would be better trained in patient issues. It could prevent a lot of pain and suffering as well as lawsuits.
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