Hi Everyone!

I just received this in my email box.  A documentary filmmaker named Maria Venuto who is originally from the Buffalo area is making a film about the cesareans and is looking anybody with any experiences and/or a particular point of view - either professionally or personally - directly related to cesareans.  She will be in town 6/11-6/16.

 

Below is the description of her project.  If you are interested in participating, let me know ASAP and I will put her in contact with you.

 

Thanks!

Rachel

 

---

The First Cut (Working Title)
Cesarean Documentary Project Description

Cesarean section is one of the most commonly performed major surgeries
in the United States today. The use of this procedure is increasing
steadily and as of 2004, 1.2 million or 29.1% of all live births in the
US were by cesarean section. Despite recommendations from such agencies
as the Center for Disease Control and the World Health Organization,
which recommend cesarean rates of no higher than 10-15%, the increase
is widespread, cutting across lines of age, class, and ethnicity.

What are the reasons for this increasing trend? Fear of malpractice on
the part of physicians and insurers, the reversal of policies promoting
vaginal birth after cesarean (VBAC), the lack of training of younger
doctors to handle certain types of births (breech, twins,
malpresentation) without using surgical methods, and failed induction
(which have also become increasingly common) are all significant
factors.

In March of 2006 the National Institute of Health held a conference
entitled ³Cesarean Delivery on Maternal Request² intended to review the
current medical literature and make recommendations about the
acceptability of a cesarean without any medical reason. But on closer
inspection the question of patient choice needs to be evaluated. There
is substantial indication that it is more often than not the physicians
and not the patients who are pressing for a cesarean for no medical
reason. There are a small percentage of women who would choose a
cesarean over a vaginal birth, but by far the more common scenario is
that of the woman who desires a vaginal birth and ends up with a
cesarean she did not want or need.

  The First Cut is a 60-minute video that investigates the increase in
cesarean surgery from the consumers¹ point of view. Filmmaker Maria
Venuto underwent an emergency cesarean in 2003 and approaches the
issues from a mother/consumer¹s point of view, she interviews
physicians, midwives, labor and delivery nurses, hospital insurers,
administrators, consumer advocates, epidemiologists and mothers to shed
light on the effects of and reasons for the increasing cesarean section
rate including: the short and long-term physical effects of cesarean
delivery as opposed to vaginal birth, the psychological effects of
cesarean section on the women who experience it, the accuracy of the
information women are being given by their healthcare providers so that
they can make informed decisions, cultural influences and economic
effects, and how our lack of a national healthcare system and the
influence of privatized insurance plays a part in this increasing trend
toward surgical intervention. The project also encompasses broader
issues such as national healthcare, informed consent, and reproductive
rights.

  The intended audience for The First Cut includes anyone involved in
childbirth on a personal or professional level: women and men who are
planning on having children, birth educators, hospital administrators,
labor and delivery nurses, midwives, physicians and anyone who provides
physical or emotional support to women planning on giving birth. One of
the primary goals of the piece is to educate consumers however it's in
depth coverage of the issues will be a valuable tool for educating
professionals.