Grey's Anatomy a Disservice to Women

Don't get me wrong. I love the show Grey's Anatomy. But the most recent episode, "What I Am," does a disservice to laboring women. The show has a woman and her husband at the hospital. They are in labor. The woman says that she has a birth plan and wants a natural birth, but the doctors are pushing for a ceserean section for reasons that aren't very well explained to the audience. The woman seems fairly well educated about the labor process and insists several times that she does not want to be "cut open" just to make it easier on the doctors. Since the doctors aren't able to give her a strong medical reason why she should not have a c-section, she contines through her labor. At the end, the doctors are shown looking at some information or data on a piece of paper and are prompted to prepare for a "crash c-section." Addison, the doctor, explains to the mother firmly that the c-section is needed to save the life of her and her baby. The next time we see them, the beautiful baby has been born, and everybody is happy.

Why is this a disservice? The reason for this life-saving cesearean section is never really explained. (And of course there is no doula present to help the mother formulate her questions for the doctor.) Any pregnant woman watching this would be led to believe that, if your doctor suggests a ceserean section without being able to give you a reason, that you should just say "okay" because you wouldn't want your baby to die like this woman's almost did. The doctors must always be right, right?

While it is important for a woman to listen to her doctor and while it's true that a doctor probably knows more about pregnancy and birth than the mother does, it's also true that a woman has a right to plan for whatever kind of birth she wants to have AND that when her "plan" doesn't look like it's going to work, she has the right to a clear explanation of what the doctor's concerns are and why an urgent surgery might be needed.

Grey's Anatomy also does a disservice to women by making it appear that a natural birth can only be had lying in a hospital bed. If this woman's labor is not progressing, why is she not encouraged to do a "lap" around the halls? Change positions in the bed? Stimulate her nipples? Squat? These can be great, easy ways to augment labor. If, for example, Grey's Anatomy had shown this woman trying a variety of different techniques to augment her labor naturally and was STILL having problems, the emergency c-section may have been better understood.

I will contine to watch Grey's Anatomy, and I was very pleased to hear the term "birth plan" used on prime-time TV! I just wish the story line could have been a bit more clear and helpful to those out there who are interested in natural birth and are trying to plan for one.