An Oasis Of Calm In A World Fraught With Fright

Newcastle Herald

Saturday May 12, 2007

Neil Jameson

Google "maternity and childbirth" and you will get some lively blogs from mothers' groups like Maternity Coalition backing women in having the sort of birth they desire.

Along with a short list of practitioners around Australia, they nominate Dr Andrew Bisits as a go-to obstetrician for women confronting a breech birth, wanting to have a normal birth after undergoing previous caesareans, or those facing similar challenges.

The word-of-mouth among mothers' groups is that he and his team look after high-risk cases.

This comes at a time when the health authorities are moving to curb Australia's alarmingly high rate of caesarean sections. As a result, an increasing number of women from outside the Hunter wanting to choose how they birth are finding their way to John Hunter. A recent case involved a woman from interstate.

"She was deemed high risk because she had had four previous caesareans and two normal deliveries," Dr Bisits said. "No-one could confidently back her up in her decision to have a normal delivery. She went to about four hospitals before somebody put her in touch with us. She rang to ask, 'Would you support me in having a normal birth?'

"I ran it by my colleagues here and their response was, 'We mightn't advise her to have a normal delivery, but if she is informed about the risk, that's OK.

"So, I wasn't on my own. Yet, to me it all seemed a bit extreme here we are in a first-world country like Australia and a women has to drive a thousand k's, 10 hours in a car, to have a normal delivery."

The woman was admitted to John Hunter where she had a normal delivery. Dr Bisits said she was ecstatic.

"But it's not like we did anything special. I just can't understand why there wouldn't have been at least one place in her home state where she could have had the birth she desired."

Neil Jameson