Posted by My OB said WHAT?!?.
Oct
5
Posted by My OB said WHAT?!?.
“…I’d Go For The Cesarean Section.”
“Just get the cesarean section. Let them section you. I’d go for the cesarean section. It’s not that big of a deal.” – Phlebotomist whispering to mother while the OB was explaining the risks vs. benefits of a cesarean section for a suspected large baby.
There are 56 comments to this post.
maggie had this to say,
Oct 5, 2011 @ 10:57 am (Quote)
Ha! After my no big deal section I couldn’t drive or lift anything heavier than my little 7lb-er for a month! Not to mention constant tearing of internal keloid scar tissue for almost a year everytime I twisted of bent over. Why are we as a society teaching women to think like this!?!? The c-section was my greatest fear going into my l&D but ended up being necessary when the cord wrapped around her neck Times three. Since then people have gleefully said oooh you can just schedule it next time! No thanks.
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After my “not a big deal” Section I bled out and needed 4 liters of blood….I couldn’t drive and could barely hold my new born. oh but we don’t want to inform moms that THAT could happen now do we.
Are you a Phlebotomist because you couldn’t get into medical school? Are you just a pharm. rep in disguise? STFU and let the woman make a really informed decision! At least this doc is telling her the pros and cons!!
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“If you don’t mind, my doctor is actually attempting to get *informed* consent for my care. I’d like to be able to hear his information over your opinion.”
(Sure, with ‘big baby’ doc is quite likely jumping the gun… but at least he is discussing risks/benefits as he understands them and this nut won’t let the patient listen??)
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Details Reply:
October 5th, 2011 at 11:43 am (Quote)
I’m surprised the doctor didn’t find it insulting to have the phlebotomist whipsering to his patient while he was trying to talk to her. The doctor should have thrown the blood sucking witch out. (please reverse all pronouns if I got the sexes wrong.)
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first time mommy had this to say,
Oct 5, 2011 @ 11:34 am (Quote)
All right fine. YOU can get the section then if it’s no big deal? It’ll get them outta my way as I labor and then birth my baby!
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Why the hell is the phlebotomist there while the OB is discussing medical decisions? HIPAA, anyone?
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Trisha Reply:
October 5th, 2011 at 5:26 pm (Quote)
It’s HIPPA, not HIPAA. And since the phleb is part of the care team, she has a right to do her job regardless if the doc is speaking to her or not. Read up on the law before you go spouting off.
Don’t get me wrong – I’d be pissed off if the phleb was giving me suggestions. It was inappropriate for her to do so. But stop throwing around HIPPA.
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Kat Reply:
October 5th, 2011 at 5:48 pm (Quote)
While you are correct that the law doesn’t actually apply in this situation, Lisa is correct. It IS HIPAA.
http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/hipaa/understanding/index.html
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Is that your extensive medical training speaking, ma’am? Oh, your certificate actually doesn’t have a DAMN THING to do with childbirth? Right then. Draw my blood (assuming you can do THAT at least) and move on.
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BeckyJ Reply:
October 5th, 2011 at 1:15 pm (Quote)
Extensive?……Tah! Hardly. Some phlebotomists are only trained for 3 days before they take the test for certification. This is in the United States.
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Layla19 Reply:
October 5th, 2011 at 7:54 pm (Quote)
Cool! So I could be drawing blood and giving questionable medical advice as early as Monday morning?
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Jade Reply:
October 7th, 2011 at 5:28 am (Quote)
I prefer the phlebotomists that are nurses 
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BeckyJ Reply:
October 8th, 2011 at 9:16 am (Quote)
You should. You have no idea how many times I’ve had a normal phlebotomist digging around in my arm. This is a big no-no.
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Jade Reply:
October 8th, 2011 at 9:32 pm (Quote)
Me too Becky. I am a very difficult stick so it is very very frustrating when it is harder than it has to be or when they use up their 3 pokes and I have to come back the next day to try again 
To add tot eh fact that I am a difficult stick, i am absolutely terrified of needles. I can usually steel myself for one stick without passing out but if it gets stuffed up, they have to dig around or they have to have multiple goes at it, I pass out and generally vomit which is great fun. I always request a small needle and their best phlebotomist/nurse, it is always good when I get listened to, but it doesn’t happen very often
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BeckyJ Reply:
October 9th, 2011 at 8:51 am (Quote)
You know what’s funny is I took 2 months of a 4 month Phlebotomy class, so I know the do’s and don’t's of a Phlebotomist. I also one time just grabbed the tube and stuck myself on the first try after being poked and missed on twice AFTER she’d been DIGGING in my arm. *tsk*
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My sister had a c-section with her second child. Totally unnecessary. They sectioned her because the baby was sunny-side-up. She swears that if she has anymore kids she’ll do another c-section because it was so easy. She has selective memory, we have to remind her that for three weeks, she couldn’t go up and down stairs (she lived in a two story house) or drive. She swears she doesn’t remember those things at all…
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Was the phlebotemist male or female? Because if they were male, how would they know that it’s “no big deal?”
Sorry that you got this, OP and I do hope that you were able to go on and have a “no big deal” vaginal birth with your suspected large baby.
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Alyson Miers had this to say,
Oct 5, 2011 @ 12:58 pm (Quote)
Next to the dictionary entry for “unprofessional” is a picture of this phlebotomist’s face.
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road2vba2c had this to say,
Oct 5, 2011 @ 1:03 pm (Quote)
1. Not his place. He is not allowed to give medical advice.
2. Not the right time. He should not be talking while the woman’s doctor is speaking to her.
3. Why do I have a feeling this was said by a guy?
4. Coincidentally, negative points to the OB for giving risks and benefits during a blood draw. Seriously? One of the two couldn’t wait??
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Not to mention that it’s creepy and EXTREMELY nervy for someone whom you don’t know, whose opinion you never asked for (at least you hired your OB, unlike a PHLEBOTOMIST), and whose sole medical training consists of how to draw blood, is trying to influence a person about major surgery! That phlebotomist should be reported. I’da told him/her off for sure, right then and there.
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Jane Reply:
October 5th, 2011 at 2:02 pm (Quote)
I wonder if the hospital wouldn’t consider that a firing offense, since a medical-type person in the hospital setting, wearing a hospital uniform and name tag, was telling a woman she needed surgery. If anything went wrong, the woman could say this person told her she should have it and the risks the doctor was outlining weren’t a big deal.
Put that in front of your average malpractice jury and you’ve got a woman taking a big check to the bank. Yes, the hospital could argue (and should) that a phelbotomist is not a doctor, but then the malpractice attorney would ask why in heck the phlebotomist was saying things about surgery to the mom to begin with.
Cha-ching. Heck yes that person needed to be reported.
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Jane Reply:
October 5th, 2011 at 2:03 pm (Quote)
The hospital’s next concern would be, what else is this person saying? “Oh, don’t take that medication. My grandmother had it and she had horrible side effects.” There’s friendly chit-chat and there’s legal liability.
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Toni Reply:
October 6th, 2011 at 12:44 pm (Quote)
Precisely. An RN is limited in the type of “medical advice” he/she can give. If you’ve ever called a ‘nurse advice line’ and were told to call your doctor, you know what I’m talking about. Certain things are outside their scope of practice, and they could lose their license for advising patients about certain matters. And that’s a Registered Nurse. Not a flippin’ phlebotomist. I seriously hope this person got his/her ass chewed, if not fired.
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This one is mine. This was my third baby. My first two were 9lb4oz and 9lb3oz. So we knew there was a good chance Baby would be big. I was 4 days overdue, but was measuring 45 weeks. My CNM had me do an US just to check on how big the baby might be, and then they were going to break my water. I’d been at a four for two weeks already. The ultrasound tech was guessing 10.5 lbs. So they were doing a CYA and discussing the risks vs. benifits of vag vs. c-section. The doc (who my CNM worked with) came in and was very openly and politely discussing the risks. Not being pushy at all. The stupid vampire on the other hand kept whispering these stupid comments the.whole.time. The doc had to leave for a few minutes mid convo and she kept going. “I know someone who had seven sections and everything was just fine.” “It’s really not a big deal.” “Think of all the work it will save you.” etc. etc. etc. I think it was a good thing I was in a really really good mood or I might have beat her.
Long story short-ish: Once I a had been informed both the doc and CNM were fine with me proceeding with the vag birth. I was able to give birth to a 10lb 7oz baby boy with absolutely no problems. And I recovered much faster than I would have had the phlebotomist had her way.
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Jane Reply:
October 5th, 2011 at 4:00 pm (Quote)
May I ask why you didn’t ask the doctor to tell the phlebotomist to be quiet? There’s a pecking order in the hospital and since the doc and CNM were being so reasonable, they probably would have shown the phlebotomist the door and possibly filed a complaint themselves.
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Alyson Miers Reply:
October 5th, 2011 at 4:41 pm (Quote)
Thank goodness you had a good CNM who worked with a good OB. Was the doc aware of the vampire giving you unqualified advice?
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Karli Reply:
October 5th, 2011 at 7:10 pm (Quote)
You know, I honestly don’t remember. I just remember wishing she would shut-up. lol I found it amusing that of all the people who advised me on the risks and benefits of both options (the perinatologist, CNM and OB) the phleb. was the only one who was pushy at all.
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Kat Reply:
October 5th, 2011 at 5:53 pm (Quote)
That’s interesting, I’ve had six vaginal births and one c-section. Guess which one was the most “big deal” and hardest recovery? DUH, the surgery.
My Aunt had 4 c-sections (one emergent and three planned) and SHE even says none of them were easy or “no big deal.”
I am so glad you had the birth you hoped for!
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Wendy Reply:
October 6th, 2011 at 1:12 pm (Quote)
I’m sorry you had to deal with that jerk. I’m curious what the named *benefits* of elective cesarean surgery were. As a pg woman with a history of bearing 10-pounders, I find this site to be an awesome resource: http://www.bigbaby.org.uk/
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I did consider submitting a similar story, I think I might now!
My premature baby was struggling to gain weight and was put on bottles for two weeks. I really wanted to come off the bottles and breastfeed eventually (she’s now a little fatty and fully breastfed) I was talking to a member of staff I had become friendly with (I’d known her from two previous times too) over the 6 weeks I’d been in hospital and saying that I really wanted to get it restarted. Her response was “I wouldn’t bother, it’s much easier to just give a bottle, I didn’t breastfeed any of mine, couldn’t be bothered with all that”
Guess what the member of staff was…
(I’ll post the answer in a couple of hours)
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Heather Reply:
October 5th, 2011 at 3:32 pm (Quote)
Oh my . . . it was a lactation consultant, wasn’t it? Probably not IBLCE though.
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first time mommy Reply:
October 5th, 2011 at 6:38 pm (Quote)
An LC is my guess too :/
I’m not very surprised if is – hard to find good ones these days I had a very bad one.
If it’s IBLCE …. I don’t know if I’ll be able to wrap my head around that!
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Add Your Comment.
Perhaps if the phlebotomist would shut up and listen to what the doctor was saying, she wouldn’t thinking c-sections were “no big deal.”
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