A latest study conducted by health care economists Erin Johnson and M Marit Rehavi says that doctors recommend the method of delivery to pregnant women depending on monetary incentives.
This generally happens for cesarean section deliveries.
The study done by Johnson and Rehavi noted that obstetricians may get paid more money to perform a C-section than vaginal delivery. They analyzed that the amount comes to a few hundred dollars for the doctors and runs into thousands for hospitals.
The research further said that the doctors who conducted C-section deliveries opted for vaginal delivery during their pregnancies. "The idea is that physicians have medical knowledge," Johnson told NPR. "If the obstetrician is deviating from the best treatment because of their own financial incentive, the patient (who is a) doctor would be able to push back against the obstetrician. But that might not be the case for non-doctors because they simply do not have the medical knowledge to know whether or not this C-section is the appropriate for them."
We found that doctors are about 10 percent less likely to get C-sections," Johnson said. "So obstetricians appear to be treating their physician patients differently than [they treat] their non-physician patients."
In the U.S. every one baby out of three is delivered through C-section. According to Family Education, vaginal deliveries are much safer than C-sections that take a longer recovery time compared to natural birth. Health experts advise that C-section should be performed under extreme health emergencies for either mother or baby.
The economists says that it is not necessary that the doctors are only driven by monetary incentives to do C-sections, but according to them, incentives affect behavior in other subtle ways, reports NPR
In mothers C-sections are done in cases of disease transmission, inability to labor, and having a pelvis too small to allow a baby to pass through. Fetal indications for C-sections include umbilical cord complications, fetal distress, and multiple babies (i.e. twins).
Johnson and Rehavi advised that pregnant women should be informed about the safety risks of C-section as well as the health benefits of vaginal birth.
