Houston Chronicle by Marina Starleaf Riker and Christian McDonald, San Antonio Express-News Dec. 3, 2020
'Failure to progress': What C-sections say about the quality of maternal care in Texas
This story is the first part in the "Off the Chart" investigative series from the San Antonio Express-News. You can read the
second part here.
C-sections can be life-saving for mothers and babies, but they carry their own risks, some of them severe. A high rate is considered a strong indicator that a hospital may be overusing the surgery.
Of mothers who fit the criteria for low risk and who gave birth at Doctors Hospital in 2019, 31 percent had C-sections, McDonald’s analysis found.
That was the highest rate of primary C-sections among all nonmilitary hospitals with 30 or more births in Texas.
It was nearly double the statewide average, which was 18 percent.
Of 213 Texas hospitals included in the analysis, only two others had primary cesarean rates above 30 percent — Christus Southeast Texas-St. Elizabeth in Beaumont and Valley Regional Medical Center in Brownsville.
Doctors Hospital of Laredo also had the highest rate of episiotomies in Texas. The procedure was performed during nearly a third of vaginal deliveries at the hospital in 2019.
There is no national benchmark for episiotomies, but the Leapfrog Group, a national nonprofit that analyzes data on the quality and safety of hospital care, recommends a rate no higher than 5 percent. The statewide average last year was 6.5 percent.
More:
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/investigations/article/C-section-Texas-maternal-care-off-the-chart-series-15772495.php
