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Fathers at caesarean births

This weekend I am visiting friends who spend their time between Bangkok and Britain. They told me that they had been contacted by a woman in Bangkok who was wanting to ensure that if she had a caesarean birth in the private hospital where she has booked, her husband can be with her in the theatre.

This request has caused some mayhem, it seems. The hospital’s response was to quote a recent policy change that husbands could not now accompany their wives to theatre for the birth of their baby by caesarean. This woman then contacted the rival private hospital, to be told that they had an “open door “ policy. When this information was conveyed to the first hospital they reconsidered their position. The need for secrecy about what goes on in hospitals is becoming more of a problem. The usual reason given (perhaps indirectly) is that if you have family members in the theatre (or extra people in the labour ward) then they may become concerned about what is going on, and sue the hospital. Hospital administrators reason, apparently, that if you keep the people in the dark, they won’t become alarmed and will take on trust what they are told about events that occur during hospital stays.

An alternative way of looking at this would be to encourage the partner into the theatre, or the extra family and friends into the labour ward, so they would be witness to everything and could see for themselves what was done to save the mother and baby from harm. It could be argued that being open and forthcoming heads off potential law suits, because it is clear that there is nothing to hide and that every effort has been made to achieve a good outcome in an emergency situation.

Of course, sometimes people will make mistakes and the system won’t work as well as it should - that’s life. Being honest and open, however, may help those involved to come to terms with these events better than trying to cover them up and obfuscate under questioning.

As far as I know, most hospitals in Australia (and probably Britain) do enable fathers to be in the theatre when their baby is born via caesarean, unless there is a true emergency with no time to equip him being in the theatre. This is something I will ask midwives about during workshops, because it may be another reason why men are so often traumatised by the drama of the caesarean and subsequently encourage their partners to accept an elective caesarean for future births. Being present for a surgical procedure must carry the potential for trauma for the uninitiated, but surely excluding people and thus creating mystery could contribute as well.

Posted by andrea at October 08, 2005 08:16 PM