[...] Are VBAC bans legal? [...]

I love your article & have told this information to many many women over the years however I would love info on how to deal with a provider who releases you from their care for not consenting to a cesarean. I had a doula client a year or so ago who had a provider on board for VBAC her entire pregnancy, then at her 34 week appt the provider told her she needed to schedule a cesarean at 39 weeks or find another provider. She was unable to find another provider and ended up having a VBAC in the ER at another hospital, but she was highly uncomfortable & scared in doing things that way.

While it is illegal… force c-sections DO happen.

I was gassed and my baby was surgically removed from my womb, WITHOUT CONSENT. I was seperated from my husband on the way to the OR after we were told we were moving there “in case of emergency” and so we could more closely monitor my son. While laboring on a birthing ball, the monitor was slipping & not keeping an accurate watch of my sons heartrate. An internal monitor was placed in my sons scalp, but wasn’t plugged into the machinery (I expected that to happen in the OR). On the way to the OR, my husband was sent into a room to change into scrubs. When he exited that room, he was told that he couldn’t join me in the OR because I was already being put to sleep for surgery. When I got to the OR, medical staff immediately began to prep my body for surgery. Since I wasn’t having surgery, I said that I didn’t want a csection and that IF I needed one for the sake of my baby, then I needed my husband to come to me so we could make the decision together. I was told that my hsuband was on his way to me. Then, I was told to breathe into a different face mask because my baby needed more oxygen & the new mask had a better seal against my face.

I was not given oxygen for my baby. I was gassed. I found out that I was having a csection when I woke up in recovery several hours later. NO ONE told me ahead of time that I was going to have one. NO ONE came to me afterward to explain what happened. My discharge paperwork fromthe hospital makes no mention of me having had a csection. I received NO wound care or post-operative instructions.

I wasn’t there when my son was born. I wasn’t there when he was bathed for the first time (also performed against my wishes). When my son and I met for the first time, several hours after his birth, I was a drugged groggy post-operative mess. Because I was still working the anesthesia out of my system, I couldn’t hold him. Because I had an oxygen mask on my face, I couldn’t kiss him. Those experiences were taken from me and no amount of regret or wishing or even apologies or lawsuits can ever give us those moments back..

My baby is 7 weeks old today. I’ve requested a full copy of my hospital records, so I can read what it says before I confront the hospital and medical staff. I’m seeing a counsellor to try to overcome my new fear of doctors & hospitals, my disappointment at not being present at my sons birth, and the resentment I feel toward myself, my husband, and the hospital staff that allowed this to happen to me.

I approached an attorney for advice & was told that my emotional wounds are not ‘damages’, my surgical wound aren’t ‘damage’, so I have no grounds for a medical malpractice suit (or at least not enough potential financial compensation to gain their interest).

Women should be screaming mad over the treatment some of us get just because we’re giving birth, something we’ve been doing since Adam & Eve began to beget.

I asked my state’s attorney general to issue and opinion on this in the spring of 2007 and their response was that VBAC bans are legal. When I discussed the issue with the AG who wrote the opinion she told me that having the ban is legal but enforcing it on the individual level is not.

Barbara Stratton