I don’t have a problem with this one. Depending on how it was said, the resident may have been trying to suss out the woman’s objections to another cesarean in order make her more comfortable with the surgery. The resident may also have been trying to figure out how well the mother had thought it through and what her reasoning was.

Residents in particular are a good place to encounter doctors because they’re fresh out of school with all the theory in the world, but as yet they’ve only heard rumours of why actual real patients might do things. So when they ask questions, many times they don’t know the answer. This resident may have encountered a paragraph somewhere in an obstetric textbook saying that women who’ve had C-sections sometimes feel dissatisfied with their birth experience, and so the resident might have figured, “Oh! I’ll just tell her the previous births went fine, and she’ll be reassured!”

For that reason, I don’t see this comment as evil or as hard-hearted as most of the others posted here. (Barring nasty tone of voice etc. But we only have the text to work with right here.)

Wouldn’t it be nice if she could give a nice educated comeback and sway that resident towards being VBAC Friendly in his/her practice… *sigh*

I think if the resident had stopped after the question, (why don’t you want to have a c/s?) this wouldn’t sound so bad. It’s the second part that is the problem. Just because mom already had two and “everything turned out fine” in NO way guarantees that the next will “go fine”. Just because her previous c/s’s went “fine” doesn’t mean that a c/s is needed, much less wanted, this time. In fact the MORE C-SECTIONS a woman has the MORE DANGEROUS it becomes. If the OB Resident just wanted to know how mom arrived at her choice to VBA2C he could have just asked and waited for her response. His next words clearly revealed his utter lack of understanding in the danger surrounding the primary procedure of his chosen field.

I’m one that doesn’t have a problem with the wording of this question. I give the mom the benefit of the doubt that the tone or context made a difference, though. I can totally imagine how frustrating it would be if everyone in the doctor’s office / hospital was trying to convince you to have a c-section, and some resident looked at your like you were out of your mind and asked “Why?!?” in a rude tone of voice.

Aron, I agree with you that the resident’s statement shows a lack of understanding, but since it’s phrased as a question, I don’t think that’s so bad. Since I don’t have a choice about giving birth in a hospital, I have intentionally chosen a teaching hospital to take advantage of doctors who don’t yet think they know everything. If a resident/intern/med student asked me that question — in a genuinely interested tone and context, but the exact same words — I’d be happy for the chance to educate them.

I think the problem is the “obviously they turned out just fine” part. It’s very similar to saying “You have a healthy baby, that’s all that matters.” Which is absolutely not all that matters.

If this OB Resident doesn’t know the mother, he has no way to know if those previous births were fine or not.

Him saying “everything turned out fine” makes me think he is looking at it from a medical standpoint as opposed to psychologically. She may not have encountered problems physically from the surgery, but rather suffered emotionally and desires a natural birth experience.

So this is what they’re teaching OB’s in medical school these days … big surprise. Ah, to be a fly on the wall of the lecture hall classroom…

“Because with each cesarean, the likelihood for major complications such as placenta accreta, placenta abruptia, miscarriage, the need for blood transfusions, the risk of infection, and the chances of losing my uterus to hysterectomy, all increase dramatically, whereas for each subsequent VBAC, those risks decrease. That’s why.”