Malpractice insurance companies saying no VBACs

[pritchettzoo]

I've been researching VBACs for the next time I'm pregnant, and this is shocking to me. http://kfor.com/Global/story.asp?S=2160222&nav=6uyAPkmP

I wonder how fast it will spread to other states?

Anna

[hez]

How disappointing. I'm already ticked off at my personal insurance company for the limits we get on our care and the silly way (IMO) things are handled. Add this to the list of my insurance b*tches if it spreads out here.

[jamierush]

It most definitely will spread to other states, and some doctors/ hospitals are refusing to do it now, in order to lessen their exposure to lawsuits.

I think it is wrong to limit the choices of a woman and her birth process, but seriously the issue goes back to getting some kind of control or limit on many(not all) of these trial lawyers.

[egoldber]

This has been going on for years. It is almost IMPOSSIBLE to find an OB who is VBAC friendly in many states for this very reason. They put tons of pressure on women to have repeat C's even if you want a VBAC.

When I confronted my own OB about why they were so anti-VBAC, given that the VBAC literature shows almost no difference in outcomes for patients with VBAC vs repeat C, she freely admitted it was due to their liability insurance. And that if I wanted to insist on a VBAC, I would have to sign a waiver.

For the record I have no problem with a woman who (with full information and knowledgeable consent) chooses a repeat C over a VBAC. But it makes me INCREDIBLY angry that so many women are being forced to have repeat C's when so many of them are totally unnecessary, and are being forced upon us by actuaries crunching numbers in some cubicle saying that it saves the company more money to not cover VBAC.

[Momof3Labs]

>and are being forced upon us by actuaries
>crunching numbers in some cubicle saying that it saves the
>company more money to not cover VBAC.

Once again, I'm glad that I'm not a health actuary hanging around this board!! ;-)

[pritchettzoo]

>I think it is wrong to limit the choices of a woman and her birth
>process, but seriously the issue goes back to getting some kind of
>control or limit on many(not all) of these trial lawyers.

Well, I'm a trial lawyer! ;) I know it's not a personal attack--just a frustration with the system.

Anna

[DDowning]

I had to sign a VBAC waiver last week. My doctor is fully willing to give me a "trial of labor" but I am doing everything I can not to have another C-section and relive that horrible experience I had last time.

[Momof3Labs]

Ah, and I was just going to come back and defend my profession's "honor" by pointing a finger at the lawyers ;-).

Seriously, actuaries don't make the costs of VBAC-related malpractice what they are (nor do insurance companies, nor do most of the attorneys out there). As long as there are significant malpractice costs related to VBACs, someone has to pay those costs. If the insurance company pays, they pass it back to the doctors through their malpractice premiums, and the doctors pass it back to us in the form of higher charges, then we pass it back to OUR insurance companies, who pass it back to the employers paying health premiums, who pass it back to anyone that they can...

So, really, the way to make it go away is to make the malpractice costs go away. Which means that doctors have to do their jobs better or a small number of attorneys need to back off on lawsuits, or patients need to sign waivers.

It is a sticky, tangled web. And I'm still glad that I'm not a health actuary!

[jubilee]

In my area several hospitals (or maybe all) require the OB to stay in the hospital the entire labor if their patient is laboring VBAC. Many docs don't want to have to stay the entire labor, so they refer out the patient to another doc or sway them to a repeat c-section. The scoop I've gotten is that around here the only OBs that will consent to doing it are the new ones. And like Beth said, waivers must be signed.

[bnme]

My question is why are their higher risks of lawsuits associated with VBACS if they are as safe or safer than repeat C's? The whole issue is very confusing to me.

I just had a repeat C. My attempt to VBAC didn't work out -it's a long story. Partially effected by pressure from my OB and also by my own frustrations and the situation itself.