{"id":498,"date":"2013-12-03T19:28:59","date_gmt":"2013-12-03T19:28:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/facultyhighlights\/?p=498"},"modified":"2013-12-03T19:28:59","modified_gmt":"2013-12-03T19:28:59","slug":"cut-it-out-examines-the-c-section-epidemic-in-the-united-states","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/facultyhighlights\/2013\/12\/03\/cut-it-out-examines-the-c-section-epidemic-in-the-united-states\/","title":{"rendered":"Cut It Out Examines the C-Section Epidemic in the United States"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"CutItOut\"<\/a>Cut It Out: The C-Section Epidemic in America<\/em>, a new book by Theresa Morris, professor of sociology at Trinity College, examines the exponential increase in the number of cesarean sections, the most technological form of birth that exists today and one fraught with medical complications and negative consequences.<\/p>\n

In the tightly written volume, published by New York University Press, Morris challenges most existing explanations for the unprecedented rise in c-section rates, which are physicians practicing defensive medicine; women choosing c-sections for scheduling reasons; and women\u2019s poor health and older ages.<\/p>\n

Morris\u2019s explanation is more complicated, taking into account how women are treated by the medical profession, how hospitals are run, and the professional standards in the medical and insurance communities.<\/p>\n

She argues that there is a new culture that avoids unpredictable outcomes and instead embraces planning and conservative choices, all in an effort to have \u201cperfect births.\u201d<\/p>\n

The book\u2019s conclusions are based on in-depth interviews with women had had just given birth, obstetricians, family physicians, midwives, and nurses, as well as a careful analysis of U.S. c-section rates.<\/p>\n

Cut It Out <\/em>provides a riveting look at an epidemic that greatly affects the lives, health and families of pregnant women in this country.<\/p>\n

A member of Trinity\u2019s faculty since 2000, Morris is the mother of two children, the first delivered by c-section and the second by vaginal delivery.<\/p>\n

A sampling of what others are saying about the book:<\/p>\n

\u201cEngagingly written, rigorously research, and compellingly argued, this book [is] a must-read not only for women\u2019s health advocates and scholars of reproduction, but also for those engaged in health care policy.\u201d \u2013 Susan Markens, author of Surrogate Motherhood and The Politics of Reproduction<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cBy looking at the power structures of the medical, legal, and professional organizations involved, the politics that devalue women, the organizational arrangements and protocols of hospitals, and the professional standards used in medicine and the insurance industry, [Morris] discovers a culture that avoids risk and encourages planning to avoid adverse outcomes. This results in conservative choices in the pursuit of the perfect birth. The author interviewed 130 new mothers, obstetricians, midwives, and labor and delivery nurses and reviewed local and national c-section rates to obtain the data for this study. VERDICT: A useful addition to health sciences and academic library collections.\u201d \u2013 Library Journal<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cChallenging conventional wisdom, Morris\u2019s interviews reveal that some doctors feel their hands are tied by the legal system, for which a prompt c-section indicates that the hospital has fulfilled its responsibilities to the patient in the event of a lawsuit; hospital policies like constant fetal monitoring, which limits the movement a laboring mother needs to facilitate a vaginal birth, and the requirement that mothers who have already had cesareans cannot have vaginal birth, and medical training that no longer teaches methods of delivering breech or multiple births vaginally\u2026Morris\u2019s powerful book deserves the attention of policymakers.\u201d \u2013 Publishers Weekly<\/em>, Starred Review<\/p>\n

\u201cTheresa Morris calls the c-section epidemic a paradox: doctors don\u2019t like it, women don\u2019t like it, and we know it\u2019s a danger to our health. Yet like a bad habit, we can\u2019t seem to stop doing more and more cesareans. Why? Morris demystifies the paradox in clear, accessible terms: rather than \u2018patient choice\u2019 or doctors\u2019 convenience, it is our systems and institutions driving this addictive behavior.\u201d \u2013 Jennifer Block, author of Pushed: The Painful Truth about Childbirth and Modern Maternity Care<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cut It Out: The C-Section Epidemic in America, a new book by Theresa Morris, professor of sociology at Trinity College, examines the exponential increase in the number of cesarean sections, the most technological form of birth that exists today and one fraught with medical complications and negative consequences. In the tightly written volume, published by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":599,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[22],"tags":[17,145,144],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/facultyhighlights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/498"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/facultyhighlights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/facultyhighlights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/facultyhighlights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/599"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/facultyhighlights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=498"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/facultyhighlights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/498\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":503,"href":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/facultyhighlights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/498\/revisions\/503"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/facultyhighlights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=498"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/facultyhighlights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=498"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/facultyhighlights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=498"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}