News - Should women pay for Epidurals?

[smudge]

Just heard on the news that women who request Epidurals for labour pain relief, should be charged for them.

Apparently Epidurals cost the NHS approx �500 each time one is administered.

What do you think?

[smudge]

Back again - Fortunately for me, I had no problems at all giving birth to our two daughters. I had relatively short labours, using a little gas & air to help relieve the pain.

On the other hand, our youngest daughter was in labour for 19 hours. It was pitiful for us, to sit outside the delivery suite, listening to her husband & the staff urging her to push harder!!!! It was patently obvious that she couldn't give birth without intervention & they finally gave her an epidural. Even after this, she still could not deliver the baby herself & was rushed off to theatre, given a general anaesthetic, then given an episiotomy, only after using forceps & all the trauma, our first darling Grandchild appeared! My daughter had no recollection of the birth, so it's a good job we had a video camera to show her when she was fully awake.

I don't think Epidurals should be administered or demanded at the beginning of labour, but feel it should be given if requested & it is obvious that the patient is in severe pain & distress.

[Pippa68]

I totally agree with smudge. I went into my labours with a complete open mind, & although it was very painful & tiring (they don't call it labour for nothing!) I managed without & luckily the labours ranged from 3-6 hours.

However, it may have been VERY different if they had gone on & on for hours on end. Pain wears you out (try having toothache or headache for a couple of hours & treble it) & getting tired is not a wonderful thing to happen when you need strength to push out a melon..bearing in mind that a baby can take up to 2 hours to push out. it is true that there is greater risk of epidurals resulting in instrumental intervention, but a lot do not. If it calms the mother, it can only be a good thing ~ & pain = fright in a lot of cases which makes the pain even worse.

I do agree that epidurals are often given too early, & maybe that should be addressed. But they shouldn't have to be paid for. It is imperative that a woman feels in control whilst in labour ~ & epidurals provide that for some women.

[kick3m0n]

I whizzed through my labour to the pushing stage in just 6 hours, with only some gas and air. But I got an epidural because an intervention became necessary. They had to try keylans forceps and if that hadn't worked, they had to go straight for a c-section, so I was in theatre when I got my epidural and had no choice in the matter, it was essential. If an intervention hadn't become necessary (foetal distress), I'd have happily pushed my son out with just gas and air (which I'd actually stopped using during the pushing stage, as it was just annoying me!). BUT, I know I was lucky and had a very easy labour (up to a point), and next labour could be very different. How would I feel if I really didn't know where I could find 500 quid to pay for an epidural? Wow, how anxiety-ladened and potentially frightening do you want to make giving birth?

[Hgrove]

Like I said earlier, of course epidurals increase the likelyhood of a cascade of intervention, but if women were offered continuity of care from a midwife they get to know and trust, and offered a home birth if they want it, it is a proven fact that very many fewer epidurals would be administered! The midwives have turned the logic on its head. As for myself, I was in excruciating pain many hours before I was in "established labour" (what a joke), the whole thing took a couple of days. My second stage took a record 4 hrs 36 mins. I have no doubt if the midwives had looked after my needs better, I would not have had an epidural, or not so soon anyway, and it woud not have taken so long, and I would not have worn myself out to the extent that I could not even push anymore. (My daughter was born with the help of a ventouse). I felt like a failure because I had not been able to give birth to her all by myself but I felt the midwives did not support me, they had their targets to meet (e.g. checked at 1am, 2am, 3am...). Towards the end they switched off the epidural but I felt no need to push whatsoever. People have said to me that was because of the epidural, but in fact they had switched it off by then. My mum was the same with me and my sister before epidurals had been invented, she felt no need to push.

[smudge]

Unfortunately, after hours of labour, our eldest daughter had to have epidurals & caesarians with both her daughters. Fortunately, she was wide awake at the time & didn't miss a thing.

Thinking back to 1965, when I was in hospital for seven days after having our first (even tho' I was fine), I can only remember one girl in the whole ward & in the whole seven days, who had a caeser. She was about 4'10" & had a 10lb boy! Makes you think!

[sandbach99]

I understood this charge was only being proposed for women who were not considered to be in need of an epidual for medical reasons.

As previous posts have said more intervention is needed after some epidurals thus increasing the cost to the NHS.
It appears some women for whatever reason are demanding epidurals on commencing labour instead of waiting and seeing how they get on, and there is a cost consideration to the NHS. I believe some of the celebrities encourage this attitude to labour by arranging to have their babies on certain dates rather than letting nature take its course.

[Otrere]

I went 15 hours without pain relief. When I was laying in agony on the bed, my entire body shaking, twisted and contorted with pain, did I ask for an epidural. I wouldn't have asked for one if I didn't think I needed one.

There is a risk with epidurals - of lifelong back pain - especially if it is not administered correctly. Why the hell should anyone pay 500.00 for something that may risk them suffering with back pain for life? Would women be able to claim the money back if something did go wrong with the epidural.

And what if it didn't work properly as sometimes it doesn't? Would that mean you're paying 500.00 to still be in pain? Or would you be able to claim that money back?

There is more than just a case of "should women pay for epidurals" here. There are far too many ins and outs and other complications and this matter needs very, very careful consideration.

[randomsasha]

I was in labour for 12 hours with my twins, and had to wait another hour for an epidural as they couldnt find the anesthetist. By the time he got there I was moving about so much through pain that he thought I'd be left with last damage. In the end my son (who was first) had his hand on his head and wouldnt come out, so forceps had to be used. I was so exhausted I fell asleep inbetween my son and daughter being born (12 minutes!) and had to be woken to push again.

I thought you weren't allowed an epidural unless it was obvious it was needed, the same for c-sections. I requested one as I had read about second twins dying through lack of oxygen, and was refused and told that only in extreme circumstances would I be offered one.

[stoo_pid]

The average baby's head measures something like 35cm in circumference. Having passed a 4mm kidney stone a couple of months before Mrs Pid gave birth to our son, I can fully appreciate why women would ask for epidurals.

[smudge]

Thank you for giving us ladies that info stoo_pid.

I have also passed a kidney stone & can honestly say it was the most excrutiating pain I have ever experienced - apart from labour of course! :o{

[stoo_pid]

: - )

Mrs Pid did say I was taking the phantom pregancy thing a bit too far!

[spacechimp]

Well, it is God's will that there should be pain in childbirth ^^. That is [edited by AB ] �500 is a pittence.

[diana.m]

It is very difficult for a person other than the one experiencing the pain to decide if its needed or not. Good god we are living in modern times. Withholding necessary pain relief is barbaric. There are a few persons in this world that enjoy pain but they are the odd ones out. Of course women shouldNOT have to pay for an epidural. Yes some women can get by with a little gas and air but why should women be subject to unnecessary pain if they dont need to.

Drussila thanks for making me laugh.