Posted by My OB said WHAT?!?.
Apr
13
Posted by My OB said WHAT?!?.
“…Now You’re Having A Natural Episiotomy.”
“Well, you wanted a natural birth – now you’re having a natural episiotomy.” -OB to mother who was complaining of pain from the repair of an unwanted episiotomy.
There are 40 comments to this post.
Wait — is the meaning of this that the OB decided to suture her without anesthesia because she’d wanted an unmedicated birth?! So the OB then cuts her over her protests and then sutures her so she can feel all the pain and claims it’s in accord with her wishes?
Anything I want to say would land me in trouble right now…
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The Deranged Housewife had this to say,
Apr 13, 2010 @ 5:41 am (Quote)
I’m with Jane…this is not how I should be starting out my morning.
I hope this poor mama complained – and LOUDLY – to the hospital. This asshole is a sadist.
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Wow, that is so callous. Its not like she needs an epidural buddy, its just a localized shot. Would it have killed you (or made something explode..) to ask her if she wanted it, especially after YOU did the damage, not baby?
I also had an unmedicated birth (with the exception of that d*mn pitocin) but the doctor still gave me localized anesthetic when I had the repairs done from natural tears. For all his faults (he was the doctor I was praying did NOT deliver my baby) he congratulated me, told me I did a good job and left. I’m glad at least for everything that went wrong I at least didn’t have to endure crap comments like that. Whoever posted that, I’m sorry! You did a great job giving birth unmedicated and that comment was unwarranted!
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And that comment leads naturally to a lawsuit…
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Jane Reply:
April 13th, 2010 at 7:22 am (Quote)
No lawyer would take this on unless it was his wife this happened to because the “pain and distress” settlement would be too small. The courts wouldn’t care about the episiotomy without permission.
But I would definitely file a complaint with the hospital and the state licensing board.
I had a minor tear repaired without an anesthetic because the tear took one stitch and an anesthetic would have taken one jab with the needle. So why bother? 
The stitch was probably more shallow than the needle anyhow, but even that was uncomfortable. BUt doing a third-degree wound without anesthesia when the doctor had already proven he didn’t care about the patient’s wishes really is sadistic.
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RachelOdom Reply:
April 13th, 2010 at 2:06 pm (Quote)
I am in Paralegal school now, and my law teacher is actually a lawyer. She said that They might take the case to court if the baby was in no danger and the mother explicitly said she did not want an episiotomy at the time of birth, not in a birth plan.
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Jane Reply:
April 13th, 2010 at 2:49 pm (Quote)
In theory, yes, but most women who’ve tried this have been rebuffed because there simply isn’t enough money involved when doctors take scissors to a woman. In this case, adding the lack of anesthetic afterward might make a damage award higher, but probably not enough for a lawyer to take the time.
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Jamie Laudert Reply:
April 29th, 2010 at 8:36 pm (Quote)
Rachel Odem: I gave my OB explicit orders not to cut me unless my baby was in danger. He told me her heart rate was dropping and said he absolutely had to cut me to get her out RIGHTNOWOMG!!!!! Fast forward 9 months when I got the medical records out of curiosity, the records clearly state her heart rate was reassuring the entire time so he openly lied to me to gain consent for the unnecessary cut. I have the lie on video. Despite all that, no lawyer I’ve contacted will take it on. What are your thoughts?
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Jane Reply:
April 30th, 2010 at 4:18 am (Quote)
Jamie, I’m sorry. What an evil man!
Even though no lawyer would take it on, I recommend you file a complaint with the state licensing board.
And after you do that, contact a human interest reporter for your local paper, if you live in a smallish city (because they love things like that) or a columnist who often takes on stories about people who’ve been manhandled by The System. You may not be able to take him to court, but you could alert every reader of the paper to what kind of methods this doctor will resort to in order to cut women.
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Jamie Laudert Reply:
April 30th, 2010 at 8:17 am (Quote)
I’m not actually interested in suing the guy, I was just hoping to find some legal backup, if that makes any sense.
http://cfmidwifery.org/resources/item.aspx?id=1
This website has step by step instructions for how to file a complaint. It’s a wonderful site. My daughter’s birth was almost 2 years ago and I still haven’t filed a formal complaint. I didn’t start really facing everything that happened until late in 2009 when I was finally able to watch my birth video (thought it had been destroyed when my mom’s computer crashed, quite literally, to the ground and she had the only copy at the time). My whole story is confounded by the fact that my daughter was breech and I’d switched practices at 39w2d and gave birth with a doctor I’d never met at 39w4d.
I did contact someone in the local media. She said she had to run it by her boss and I never heard back from her 
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I crossed out “possible episiotomy and/or repair” on my consent forms in the hospital and replaced it with “possible tear and/or repair” and the OB on call who was attending my birth tried to also get me to cross out that I wanted anaesthesia (it was all on the same form). I told him, no, I wouldn’t do that because I wanted “lido or whatever” for the repair and he basically said the same thing this OB did.
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Jane Reply:
April 13th, 2010 at 9:35 am (Quote)
Did you ask HIM to put that in writing? Because I’m sure the state licensing board would have been pleased to have that. The local newspapers too. “Obstetrician says anesthetic is okay only if he’s the one causing the pain.”
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Laura Reply:
April 13th, 2010 at 9:40 am (Quote)
Maybe all women should just start recording their conversations with their OBs and taking bullsh*t like this to the papers.
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Jane Reply:
April 13th, 2010 at 9:46 am (Quote)
This is probably why they don’t allow women to video record their births any longer. Because high-pressure tactics like this don’t look good on the late-night news.
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cheeks023 Reply:
April 13th, 2010 at 3:08 pm (Quote)
this i EXACTLY why they frown hugely, if not altogether forbid video taping of the birth. Because then they actually have to watch what they say,and make nice.
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Megan Reply:
April 13th, 2010 at 5:40 pm (Quote)
I wish I had been able to record the same OB (after he made the nurse leave the room) tell me I was reckless for not allowing him to break my water since it wouldn’t make any difference to me but I was putting baby in great danger. Clearly he didn’t hear the nurse ask if I wanted her to call for an epidural because the contractions would be exponentially worse once it broke! It was all really insulting and misleading.
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StaudtCJ Reply:
April 15th, 2010 at 7:34 am (Quote)
You had a male OB make the nurse leave the room so he could be alone with you, then treat you poorly in private? I am just flabbergasted. There’s a reason you are supposed to have a nurse in the room when a physician is in with you. Preventing things like this is an excellent side effect of the safety measure.
I have a significant fear of OBs (which means I get very testy and argumentative, and non-compliant, because I’m scared), and would never dream of being in the same room as an obstetrician (male or female) without a witness. I hope you went on to have a safe birth-of-your-choice, in spite of the OB.
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Megan Reply:
April 15th, 2010 at 8:29 am (Quote)
My husband was still in the room. I did have pleny of prenatal appointments with just me and my regular doc; I don’t feel uncomfortable with that.
In the end, I had an unmedicated hospital birth with the nurse and I catching the baby just as Dr. Jerkface walked through the door. It wasn’t exactly how I would have liked it (the nurse was rushing me because she didn’t want him there to attend for fear he’d let me tear badly [during the repair he was talking about how I would have been a "perfect candidate" for the epi I specifically did not want] and I was stuck on my back) but it was still really awesome.
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Why does it seem doctors get off on seeing woman in pain (at their hand) that ‘refuse’ pain meds IN LABOR because they want a natural birth? This isn’t the first time we’ve seen an OB on a power trip literally torturing a woman like this. I’m always on the verge of vomiting when I read it, or even think about someone heartless enough to do this
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JoAnna had this to say,
Apr 13, 2010 @ 12:10 pm (Quote)
After my natural birth and natural 2nd degree tear, as the doctor was stitching me up (complete with a lovely dose of local anesthetic), the nurses asked if I wanted ibuprofen and acetomeniphen — and specified that they were asking because my birth plan specified no drugs. I said, “I’m only opposed to drugs during labor and delivery. Afterwards, bring on the drugs!”
The OP’s OB was a douchebag.
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Rachel Odom had this to say,
Apr 13, 2010 @ 2:11 pm (Quote)
I refused to get an episiotomy THREE times DURING pushing because the “DR” kept picking up his scissors. The last time my husband almost punched him. Then, I told him my epidural (which I tried to forgo, but was unable to because he pushed me into breaking my water) was wearing off and I could feel him stitching up my 3rd or so degree tear. he never even acknowledged me.
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Heather Reply:
April 13th, 2010 at 2:55 pm (Quote)
Mine wore off before the last 8 stitches (I tore 3rd, almost 4th degree), so I feel for you. My OB offered to stop and give me a local, but I wanted it done–I was bleeding pretty profusely and didn’t want a shot. How funny that to avoid one stick and got 8 stick and pulls. Maybe it was how sympathetic he was about it, because it really wasn’t that bad. I’ve had piercings hurt worse. To me, it barely felt worse than a tattoo. Well, right then. It hurt way more later when the birth endorphins wore off!
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Well, gee, had it ever occurred to you that perhaps an episiotomy isn’t considered a natural part of the birthing process (it DOES include a surgical instrument, btw) and perhaps since YOU broke my rules YOU should accommodate me by giving me some pain meds?
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Not mine but my first OB said basically the same thing… and no you can’t have your baby until I’m done with the repairs. I specifically requested Lido but since I had an epidural I didn’t need any… except my epidural had worn off a long time before. Hmmm I forgot how much that hurt!
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I hope she kicked that a**h*** in the face.
My home birth midwife gave me all the local I wanted when she was stitching up the episiotomy that *I consented to have* (and when a care provider can count on one hand how many women she’s cut in over a decade of catching babies, if she asks to cut you know it’s for a reason)
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That statement is the biggest crock of crap I’ve ever heard uttered by an OB. At my age I can get by with saying “that was uncalled for”
PS. I found a website some of you may be interested in. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/melissa-bartick/ipeaceful-revolution-mot_b_536659.html
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Did I understand right? This physician did not use any IV drugs or numbing medicine because you had a natural birth and you had a third degree laceration? If this happened in the last 3-4 years within the US and the hospital is accredited
by Joint Commission then you report this in writing to the ethics committee and corporate compliance. Every hospital should have one of these. CC it to the manager of L&D. It also doesn’t speak well of the nurse. Joint Commission has designated pain relief as one of it’s goals. This could be big crap for the hospital. Then when you’re done there, contact the State Medical Board to lodge your complaint. The pure, unadultered arrogance of this jerk. There would have been a throwdown right there at the bedside if, I had informed the MD you wanted numbing medicine and he didn’t supply it. Listen to Jane, I’m too upset to be of any real help.
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With my second I had an OB tell me pretty much the same thing. After a completely natural, med-free birth the nurse asked the OB if she should prepare lidocaine for the stitch necessary for my tear and the OB responded, “She wanted natural, I’m gonna give her natural.”
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This is complete crap. I had a horrible birth-my baby was in the oblique position, so I’d already mentally prepared myself for a scheduled C-section. Went into labor early, she flipped into head down but sunny side up, and had to have an episiotomy and vacuum extraction (this after three plus hours of pushing). Needless to say I’ll be looking for a new OB for kiddo number 2 should that day come, and advocating for myself a bit louder than I did.
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Sarah Dorrance-Minch had this to say,
May 22, 2011 @ 7:45 pm (Quote)
Birth is natural. Episiotomy is not, and neither is torture.
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New list of oxymorons:
Good grief
Genuine imitation
Civil war
Deliberate mistake
Natural episiotomy
……Intelligent OB
It stopped being natural when you picked up the scissors, you *****!!!
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