Posted by My OB said WHAT?!?.
Jan
14
Posted by My OB said WHAT?!?.
“…I Can Rip Your Baby’s Head Off If You Deliver Vaginally…”
“Your stomach is measuring 2 weeks ahead. You will need a cesarean section or I can rip your baby’s head off if you deliver vaginally. I have seen it happen, it is not pretty.” – OB to teen mother.
There are 51 comments to this post.
Was that a threat? It sounds like a threat. Why oh why would anyone pull hard enough on a fetus’ head to PULL IT OFF?!
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Jane Reply:
January 14th, 2012 at 3:21 pm (Quote)
We had a doctor on this site before where the OP wrote that the doctor said he couldn’t deliver a breech baby because the baby’s head would get incarcerated by the cervix and would get ripped off. But I can’t imagine how the doctor would manage that with a vertex baby, since the head would present first and as the largest body part would have opened the cervix sufficiently for the rest of the body to be born.
In the case of a shoulder dystocia, the baby’s shoulder might get broken, but again, the doctor wouldn’t be tugging on the baby’s neck. At least, a competent doctor wouldn’t be tugging on the baby’s neck. :-b
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jaed Reply:
January 14th, 2012 at 3:53 pm (Quote)
I wouldn’t believe it, except we had one post a few days ago, the “Silly Goose” one, where the pink link reported the doctor was yanking on the baby’s head. Vertex presentation, shoulder dystocia, with the mom on her back and folded in half. (Thankfully the baby was OK except for a broken arm inflicted by this selfsame OB. But it’s not hard to imagine that the fool might have killed a baby doing that sort of thing.)
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Knitted in the Womb Reply:
January 14th, 2012 at 9:51 pm (Quote)
As a doula I’ve seen more head pulling in the past 3 years than I saw in my combined total previous 8 years of practice. It is sickening.
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Rach had this to say,
Jan 14, 2012 @ 3:00 pm (Quote)
I’ve only read about this happening once and even then it was in an obscure article which was quoting someone who had heard about it themselves! And even then it was during a Caesarean – a Zavanellis Manouvere for persistent shoulder dystocia (which in itself I have never heard of being performed!!)
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Cat Reply:
January 14th, 2012 at 3:22 pm (Quote)
My cousin was born with his maneuver. I never knew it even had a name. I was so disgusted that her mom had to go through that. Cousin is 9 now.
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emily Reply:
January 14th, 2012 at 4:31 pm (Quote)
Why would you be disgusted about that? It’s a complete, complete last resort for a baby who won’t come out with any of the typical efforts. Your cousin would have died (from the oxygen/blood supply being cut off) if this had not been done.
If you have never seen a shoulder dystocia, it’s actually quite traumatic for everyone involved, including the provider. Zavanelli would not be done on a whim…it would be a last resort.
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WTF????????? I hope she complained, what a disgusting thing to say. Blatant scaremongering.
Would like to know how far along she was when this was said, also. Money on it being fairly early in the pregnancy.
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Jane Reply:
January 14th, 2012 at 3:19 pm (Quote)
Given that the doctor said she was measuring two weeks ahead, I’d bet it was at 38 weeks and the doctor wanted to scheduled the section for the next day or two. :-b
Because we all know that fundal height alone is perfectly accurate in determining which babies are so tremendous that their heads get ripped off during birth. (Vertex babies, no less.)
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Emma Reply:
January 14th, 2012 at 3:32 pm (Quote)
I wouldn’t be so sure. I’ve seen women being groomed for CS very early on in their pregnancies, being told that they are measuring ahead when it’s still early days and there’s absolutely no reason to worry. Plus all the stories of women being told their baby is breech and will require a CS (despite them being only halfway through their pregnancy, for example) so let’s get you booked in now. Or being told at an early prenatal that their last baby was big so let’s go ahead and book in for a 38w CS now.
I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if this OB was getting plans cemented well ahead of time – especially considering it’s a teen mother, possibly already scared of pregnancy/birth; pretty easy to sell a CS to start with, then you add in “your baby is clearly going to be ENORMOUS and I might accidentally rip its head off, better to just schedule a CS”.
I could be wrong, it could have been a conversation quite late in the game, but I have a feeling it wasn’t :/
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Jane Reply:
January 14th, 2012 at 3:44 pm (Quote)
We’ll have to see the pink link when it comes, but here’s my take on that kind of manipulation: when a manipulator grooms someone to harm them, the manipulator starts early with little implanted ideas: “Oh, you were seven pounds? I bet that means your baby will be huge.” “Your hips are pretty tight. I’d better get the child-sized speculum. I sure hope you’re one of the lucky ones whose hips loosen up before the baby is born.” Etc.
Someone who starts with the great-big scary whoppers is going to get called out. Say “Your baby’s head might get ripped off!” to a mom who’s only 22 weeks and she’s going to go home, terribly frightened, and talk to her mother and her grandmother and her aunt and her best friend and her best friend’s mother, and SOMEONE in that group is going to say, “That doctor is an idiot. Your grandmother delivered Uncle John in two pushes, and he weighed twenty-three pounds.”
But if the doctor pulls this on a woman who’s 38 weeks, he says, “Your baby’s head could get ripped clean off! And now that you’re 38 weeks, you could go into labor ANY SECOND NOW!” and then pushes her to book the section for the next morning.
It’s a progressive thing. Gaslighting is progressive, and grooming is progressive, because otherwise the person would leave. The doctor needs the mother’s cooperation in order to perform the unnecessary section, so it’s imperative to scare her in just the right ways.
(I’m not a psychopath, by the way. I’m a writer and I need to be able to write this kind of thought process convincingly.)
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Emma Reply:
January 14th, 2012 at 3:53 pm (Quote)
Hopefully you’re right and she had support enough.
Guess I’m just pretty pessimistic because I’ve seen a few women lately, <30w, who have been told that they needed a CS because of size/breech/positioning/some other BS reason.
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Kristy Reply:
January 14th, 2012 at 4:11 pm (Quote)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0271732/quotes?qt=qt0209061
Alex: I’m not a psychopath. I’m a sociopath. There’s a difference. See, a psychopath is insane. He can’t distinguish between wrong and right. A sociopath knows the difference. He just doesn’t have a conscience, you know? So he doesn’t care. Pretender 2001
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Margaret Reply:
January 16th, 2012 at 3:25 am (Quote)
yeah, the grooming can happen way earlier. I am hoping to switch to another practice because the last OB I saw got after me about fundal measurement (2 weeks ahead) at *30* weeks. Given th rest of the conversation, I felt like he was already trying to tie me to the railroad tracks with “huge baby” talk.
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Doc, you watch too much TV. And I’m not sure I want someone who will tug on my baby’s head that hard, to at least believe he/she can pull it off, to be anywhere near my baby. In fact, I don’t want you touching my baby at all during birth. So, buh-bye!
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I’m 33w5d, measuring 36. I guess I will sign up for a csection tomorrow. Yay! Best day of my life. Pfft.
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Nica Reply:
January 14th, 2012 at 7:02 pm (Quote)
Yep, fundal measurement for me as term when I was actually 35 weeks. I went on to deliver vaginally at 39.5 weeks, My baby (with head still intact) is peacefully sleeping in his crib right now.
This is one of the crazier things I’ve read on there, and that’s saying a lot…
Hope the OP found a new doc STAT!
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Lisa Reply:
January 16th, 2012 at 7:03 am (Quote)
Yep, my sister-in-law measured at 49 (yeah, not a typo) weeks when she was at term, and her daughter was born weighing just over 7 pounds.
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Elizabeth Reply:
January 16th, 2012 at 11:53 pm (Quote)
I just had my 33w6d appt yesterday with my homebirth midwife and I’m measuring 38 with fundal height! I was measuring 34 at my 32w appt. I’m not worried, and neither is she, but I guess I would be getting the c-section warnings from most OBs
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Katherine had this to say,
Jan 14, 2012 @ 3:46 pm (Quote)
This has happened, with a premie. However it was because of a cervical clerclave that was not removed in time and it acted as a noose. The baby was also not old enough for viability, not even 20 weeks if I am remembering the case correctly. That said this is bullhockey and agest since he is trying to insert fear in a underage mother.
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Ash had this to say,
Jan 14, 2012 @ 4:45 pm (Quote)
Omg! I just read a news story about this happening. This was in a middle eastern nation. The dr was a drunk and actually ripped the baby’s head off. Told the parents that baby died via strangulation of the cord or some other nonsense. When the family went to bury the baby they noticed the stitches around the neck and requested an inquiry where this all came out. I would have never thought that it could happen.
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Jenny Reply:
January 14th, 2012 at 9:49 pm (Quote)
Citation needed. I don’t believe that’s possible. Even with a newborn baby that’s a lot of skin, muscle and bone.
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Ash Reply:
January 15th, 2012 at 7:35 am (Quote)
I have been looking for the article, so far I haven’t been able to find it though I did find three other stories of it happening. Two were in the Philippines and one was in Kentucky. The one in Kentucky was a preemie. There was no gestational age given in the two Philippines cases. In one of those cases it was a nurse delivering the baby. However, none of these were the one I read. I wish I knew where it was that I did read it, but it was a news agency that I did recognize. I am not sure how recently it occurred, I had just recently read it though. And yes, before you ask the question I do look at the sources closely where I read the info, but I also read as many news articles a day that I can get my hands on about every topic. I will continue to look as time permits.
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ashley bean Reply:
January 15th, 2012 at 9:07 pm (Quote)
I read about it too. The baby was breech and the doctor is under investigation. Let me see if I can find the article. I also saw it on the news. I still wonder how that happened. Something doesn’t seem right to me
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ashley bean Reply:
January 15th, 2012 at 9:11 pm (Quote)
This isn’t the article I was thinking of, but its another rough doctor nearly severing a baby’s head. He did so much brain damage she died =[ Still though he didn’t completely decapitate her.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-561282/Mother-dead-baby-feared-daughters-head-ripped-Bosnian-doctor.html
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This just makes me sick to even think about. The image is just not something I want in my head. Most babies, regardless of how big they are, will come out with help at all. I remember seeing a video of mother’s birthing naturally in Brazil in my Bradley class. They squatted and the baby just came out and turned naturally onto a towel while the doctor just watched to make sure everything was alright. So there is no need to yank on the head. If there is a problem with the baby coming out then the doctor should gently guide the baby out, not yank on it’s head. When is yanking on a baby’s head appropriate? How is that not child abuse of some kind?
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Lisa voices my thought. Aside from the silliness of the claim that measuring “two weeks ahead” means decapitation… aside from the thuggishness of the implied threat… aside from the general unprofessionalism and the ethical void inherent in trying to manipulate a patient into a harmful procedure for one’s own convenience…
Aside from all that, what an ugly image to put into someone’s head. What an evil thing to do to a mother approaching what’s probably her first birth.
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I was 19 when I got pregnant and I was obviously scared about labor or something going wrong so when I heard this it added to my anxiety even more. I was around 28 weeks or less when he told me he would rip my son’s head off if I delivered vaginally. My mom was in the room with me when he said this. She gave him an attitude and asked him how he could tell just by measuring my belly and he told her that there is no way to really tell until he is born but why risk it. I told him I never heard of that happening and he plain out told me he has seen it about 3 times before. When I left the doctors office I was balling my eyes out. I was scared that something was going to happen to my son at that point. After going home and talking to other mothers, I got reassurance that would never happen. I switched doctors and when I told them the reason for switching, they were disgusted and told me that he should be reported and fired. They reported him, I know he is no longer at that office but I am not sure if he lost his license for it. I delivered my son at 37 weeks, vaginal delivery, 6lb 14 oz. If I didn’t have the support of other moms I might have had a c-section by a man who probably didn’t even know what he was doing. I am just glad he didn’t say that when I was further along because chances are he would most likely want to do a c-section the next few days.
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Kate, Ren's Mama Reply:
January 14th, 2012 at 8:44 pm (Quote)
So sorry you had to go through this, but thankful you received the support you needed to run far, far away from this lunatic!
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abba12 Reply:
January 15th, 2012 at 4:28 am (Quote)
I’m so glad you had your mother there and the support you needed.
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Jane Reply:
January 15th, 2012 at 6:33 am (Quote)
Thank you for sharing your story — I’m SO glad the doctor tipped his hand when it was still early enough for you to change practices, and major kudos to the other practice for reporting him. (They likely reported him to the hospital first because they didn’t want to be associated with a hospital that had a reputation for decapitating babies. Whether or not it ever actually happened, this doctor said he’d seen three babies get their heads ripped off, and that’s not the reputation you want for your hospital.)
I’m very glad your mother called this doctor on what he did.
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Nicole Reply:
January 15th, 2012 at 8:06 am (Quote)
I agree. I am very glad my mother was there with me and I had support from other moms. This happened a little over a year ago too, so it was recent. Not like that is relevant, but what I mean is you would think he would know the practice and instead of plain out saying I can rip your babies head off say, we could run into complications that could put your baby at risk or you.
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W.T.F?!
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