C/s rates are indeed rising for many reasons, especially the decrease in trials of labor after previous c/s, much of which is fueled by the enormous rise in malpractice premiums causing malpractice insurers (including mine) to require strict, rather scary informed consent documents before VBAC; and hospitals' (and obstetricians) subsequent refusal to let midwives and family physicians attend VBAC deliveries. They are all managed/attended by OB's now in most places. For lots of reasons that often have more to do with surgical training and point of view than the economic motive sometimes ascribed, OB's tend to have higher C/S rates than FP's and midwives, even when risk level is equal. The induction issue is also a concern as others have mentioned. One disturbing trend I'm also seeing is scheduled primary C/S without labor because a baby is "big" and/or because the mother requests/demands it. I recently read an article in a "health" magazine touting a pregnant woman's right to have a cesarean section without labor if that is her preference. Scary. Anne Montgomery, MD, IBCLC Family Physician (doing maternity care) and LC Olympia, WA *********************************************** To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest) To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet All commands go to [log in to unmask] The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM) mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html