Hospital distributes caesarian section causation brochure

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Freely available to download from a major NSW hospital website, the brochure was removed on Saturday after public concern. Western Sydney Local Health District have subsequently apologised and stated that they do not endorse the information in the document: “Western Sydney Local Health District (WSLHD) apologises for any concern or offence caused by the publication of this document. We do not endorse the information expressed in the document and have removed it from the WSLHD website. We are currently in the process of reviewing our website upload protocols and approval processes to ensure we only publish authorised documents.”

Unfortunately, for many women and families, the harm may have already been done.

The pamphlet presented a one-sided take on caesarean birth and largely focused on possible negative outcomes. It incorrectly claimed that caesarean birth “causes a big increase” in a wide range of childhood conditions, from asthma and obesity to a developmental delay. While there is a lot of population level research looking at various associations, there is simply no evidence that caesarean birth causes these outcomes.

The pamphlet stated “the risk of developing urinary incontinence after vaginal birth is like the risk of your child having autism after a caesarean birth”.