I am checking, is having a C-section moral?

[Cracker_Mom]

I have read the responses presented so far. The responses indicate that it is moral as long as it is medically necessary. This sounds very good to me. But, this is a Catholic web site. We are talking about the Catholic Faith here, not what everybody agrees with. The two do not have to be the same.

It really doesn’t take much thought to realize that what is good for a person, and medically necessary may be against Church teachings. I think the idea that something is medically necessary is not an acceptable standard for judging if something is moral or not. I really think the Church needs to step up and say what is morally acceptable and what is not.

Wow, big job isn’t it?

But how do you know if your doctor isn’t advising you to get a procedure because he needs to make his car payment? I know that sounds terrible and I doubt if it happens much, but I wouldn’t say it never happens. To be fair we live in a world filled with different solutions to medical problems. Shouldn’t the Church make an effort to stay on top of the various procedures and decide which ones are moral?

Try googling TPN and Catholic. TPN is a medical term. You will see what I mean. When you get the results of your google where is the statement from the Vatican? TPN is also known as hyperalimentation. You read things like morally optional. No joke, that is from a bunch of Bishops in Nebraska. How is that for a good answer.

Maybe C-sections are morally optional too. How can something really be morally optional?That is a new term to me.

I had an OB pressure me to have a c-section because he was impatient waiting & wanted to get back to his practise.He didn’t say that in so many words but it was obvious.Thankfully I held out & got through the delivery without unnecessary surgery inflicted.I found out a few years later he’d lost his license, so I guess his poor decisions had managed to catch up with him.Never found out the details.
Rather than car payments I’d think insurance may be the culprit more often, but again, some c-sections are very much needed & save lives. I have a healthy grandbaby because of it.

 

[nist858]

One reason I can think of why an unnecessary C-Section might be immoral: the effects of becoming pregnant soon after having one. My doc told me that getting pregnant soon after (defined as ‘within 2 years’) my (medically necessary: IUGR) C-Section would put me and the baby at a high risk of scary stuff like uterine rupture. I had a hard enough time balancing the morality of using NFP and risking a high-risk pregnancy vs using artificial contraception for a couple of years (I went with NFP because it took me a year of TRYING to conceive so I figured that even if I was spectacularly incompetent at using NFP I’d probably still not conceive for at least a year - my son is 4 months old and, so far, no pregnancy) after a medically necessary C-Section - so now add on top of that debate the fact that the C-Section was performed for convenience rather than medical necessity …

 

[Bradski]

This is NOT a question for a public forum. The only person you should be discussing this type of matter with is your doctor. It don’t think the mods should allow any threads on medical matters.

 

[Rau]

This is NOT a question for a public forum. The only person you should be discussing this type of matter with is your doctor. It don’t think the mods should allow any threads on medical matters.

The question asked is about the morality of an act, not whether such a medical procedure is warranted. The latter would deserve the response you gave above, but not the former.

I note also that there is no reason to anticipate one’s doctor is well-placed to counsel on the morality - he can provide facts and opinions on the medical need and efficacy.

 

[thistle]

This thread is nearly 5 years dormant. We are not supposed to resurrect old threads but rather start a new one even to discuss the same topic.