High number of C-sections may be due to monetary considerations
The rate of Caesarean sections in the US may be high because it is more profitable for doctors
A new health-care study has suggested that the rate of Caesarean sections in the US may be high because it is more profitable for doctors. The study, published by the National Bureau of Economic Research, compared cases involving patients who were themselves qualified doctors with cases of non-doctor patients. The researchers theorized that the operating doctor would be less likely to suggest an unnecessary C-section to an educated patient. Gynaecologists were 10% less likely to suggest a C-section to doctor-patients than non-doctor patients.
“Obstetricians appear to be treating their physician patients differently than [they treat] their non-physician patients,” said co-author Erin Johnson, of MIT. The researchers stressed that gynaecologists may not even be aware of the influence of the monetary incentive. Rather, they claim, it plays a subconscious, but significant, role in decision-making.
Xavier Symons
Creative commons
Caesarean sections
professional conduct
- Queensland legalises ‘assisted dying’ - September 19, 2021
- Is abortion a global public health emergency? - April 11, 2021
- Dutch doctors cleared to euthanise dementia patients who have advance directives - November 22, 2020
More Stories
Are Dutch doctors too willing to euthanise people with autism and intellectual disability?
Will legalized euthanasia and assisted suicide lead to unnecessary deaths because of an able-ist bias against intellectual disability and autism?...
Euthanasia in Quebec: seamless service at a friendly funeral parlour
In Quebec, the number of cases of euthanasia has risen from 63 in 2015-2016 to 3663 in 2021-2022. Nowadays many...
Against commercial-assisted suicide
The journal Bioethics recently published an attack on commercial assisted suicide (CAS). The author, Yoann Della Croce, condemns it as...
Norway to export sperm
Danish sperm banks have grown into a successful export industry. Now Norway seems to be following the same path. The...
Denmark: parliament pressured to OK euthanasia
A proposal to legalise euthanasia in Denmark has broken the threshold of 50,000 signatures to put it before the Danish...
Australian judges need to review standards for gender dysphoria treatment
Most judges and lawyers in Australia know little about the white-hot debate amongst doctors over appropriate treatment for gender-dysphoric children....