OB bribes mothers to deliver babies on 11/11

"I'll pay you if you give birth before midnight tonight!" 

As we approached the landmark "11/11" this week, I'm sure all of us were waiting to hear "miraculous birth stories!" of babies that "happened" to be born on November 11, 2011 at 11:11 a.m. (or p.m.) Most of us are jaded enough to realize that no, usually none of these babies just happen to come into the world at such an auspicious moment all on their own, and when you read more details on many of these births it's no surprise that they are either planned cesareans or inductions. Yay.

The birth of a baby is always a joyous occasion and something to celebrate. But I cannot imagine actually planning the date, no matter how close I was to my due date, just to have a "fun birthday" like this. Kind of takes the magic and suspense out of it, you know?

So one Iowa OB has decided, back in February, actually, to put money into a savings account for those patients who delivered on 11/11. Oh, how nice! Helping baby to get a good start in life with a tidy sum saved up in an account just for Junior. Excuse me while I go vomit.

So far, he's had two scheduled cesareans lined up and one induction. Surprise!

In just reading between the lines, I get a few creepy suspicions about Dr. Valone. Two of his patients are repeat cesareans because "they delivered that way in the past," which sounds like he is not very pro-VBAC. Perhaps his idea of informed consent about surgical births and the dangers of VBAC includes, "Well, I could pay you to deliver your baby by repeat cesarean on November 11. How about that?" His fees, according to the article, range from $900 to $2,000, "depending on the case and the insurer." Financial incentive much? Does this almost sound like "the better insurance you have, the more I charge" to you?

Further down in the article, it says he will deliver two more women by induction "whose pregnancies have reached full term." Full term, to most people, is 37 weeks. His comment, "We're doing it proactively rather than just waiting to see what happens" sounds like he pushes the big baby scare tactic. How much do you want to bet this patient is not very close to 39 weeks? $2,000, maybe?

One of his patients, a young 20-year-old mother has passed her due date by THREE DAYS and is awaiting induction today. This is her first child. I fear for this woman, for many reasons. I hope she has a vaginal birth, but honestly - who can say? The article also says things like, "Natural birth proponents urge women to avoid the medications that induce delivery unless there is a strong medical reason to take them," but Dr. Valone assures us all that "it's safe" and you're better off if they go that route (meaning, "Take the Pitocin!") rather than trying to start their labor at home.

No sources, no nothing that indicates that Dr. Valone perhaps is a c-section, induction-happy doctor who is basically bribing women to give birth before the clock strikes midnight (or five p.m., which is probably the end of his shift). And these women are eating it up like candy, which is nauseating, at best. Yeah, it's their choice, but when you're presented with the possibility of a wad of cash and the assurance that "It's safe and you're better off!" how can you resist?

I would hope that offering financial rewards to patients in order to force their births to take place (or coerce them) would be considered, at the very least, unethical. When you blab in the media about doing such a thing, you'd better be willing to offer sound proof that they do, in fact, have some medical condition (besides a prior uterine scar) that means this induction or cesarean was necessary; otherwise all those hospital bans on elective inductions and cesareans don't mean a thing. I'd love to think an official from ACOG, and perhaps the Iowa State Medical Board, would be questioning this doctor on his choice of practices and perhaps taking a look at medical records. But then again, I doubt anyone will bat an eyelash.

Didn't have to dig very hard to find this one.