My Sister has been diagnosed with gestational diabetes, and has been told that she may not attempt a vaginal birth or have a midwife and must schedule a C -section now , even though she is months away from birth and the complications that would require a c-section ( i. e. huge baby )have not yet appeared. Is there a legal requirement for hospitals to schedule a C- section from day one? Is there a patients’ rights component to this question? |

My Sister has been diagnosed with gestational diabetes, and has been told that she may not attempt a vaginal birth or have a midwife and must schedule a C -section now , even though she is months away from birth and the complications that would require a c-section ( i. e. huge baby )have not yet appeared. Is there a legal requirement for hospitals to schedule a C- section from day one? Is there a patients’ rights component to this question?

I would start by advising a second opinion or even a third opinion outside the existing medical system she is in. This may be a conservative approach of the OB/GYN she is seeing. I would also suggest she request from the doctor a copy of the standard of care for this issue and exact medical reasons as to why it is necessary to have a date set so far in advance. It is my understanding that a cesarean is a possibility given the risks of gestational diabetes to the baby. It is not a given. In fact,here are some web sites that speak to these issues.

http://www.diabeticmommy.com/index.html

http://diabetes.niddk.nih.gov/dm/pubs/gestational/

www.patientslikeme.com

A good resource may be the American Diabetes Association.

You are correct that there are patient’s rights involved. Your sister does have every right to have more information to make an informed decision. I encourage her and the family to get all information. I have not heard of hospitals demanding C-sections be scheduled immediately for gestational Diabetes. I don’t believe this is a legal issue.

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This entry was posted on Monday, March 1st, 2010 at 7:54 pm and is filed under Questions. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site. Your comments will appear immediately, but I reserve the right to delete innapropriate comments.

One Comment on “My Sister has been diagnosed with gestational diabetes, and has been told that she may not attempt a vaginal birth or have a midwife and must schedule a C -section now , even though she is months away from birth and the complications that would require a c-section ( i. e. huge baby )have not yet appeared. Is there a legal requirement for hospitals to schedule a C- section from day one? Is there a patients’ rights component to this question?”

Jillian Wheeler Says:
March 6th, 2010 at 10:59 pm
My daughter had 3 babies at home, but when she developed gestational diabetes, for safety’s sake, her midwife referred her for a hospital birth. She had a completely natural birth, no meds or surgery. Stayed overnight and went home. I would definitely look for a more flexible, natural birth friendly OB.

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