Cost Versus Benefit

From a recent article in USA Today:

"Childbirth is the leading reason for hospitalization in the USA and one of the top reasons for outpatient visits, yet much maternity care consists of high-tech procedures that lack scientific evidence of benefit for most women, a report says today."

Currently, one-third of births in the United States is a c-section (the cesarean rate at our local hospital is currently just over 40%), and I would venture to say that nearly 50% of hospital births are started by induction. Interventions in childbirth seem to increase every year, and it is important to ask -- Are births getting safer?

To read the full text of the quoted article, follow this link.

The Winner Is...

Team Hanni, commenter #6. Please email me with your info, and I should have that to you in a week.