A baby can come to the world in many ways, being ideal to do it vaginally and without instruments in between. Sometimes, if the obstetricians consider it appropriate, some instruments such as forceps or the suction cup can be used to achieve the delivery, being the windy element that concerns us today, put to debate following the case of a baby with serious sequelae.
It has happened in Lugo, where the Patient Advocate has sent a letter to the Superior Prosecutor of Galicia, Carlos Varela, to assess the case of the baby, born at the Lucus Augusti Hospital, whose sequelae attributes to the use of suckers, defining delivery as from "Alleged crime".
In the letter sent, the president of the Patient Advocate, Carmen Flores, explains that the baby was a healthy child who, after delivery, has serious sequelae that "Presumably they will cost you your life", because of "Stubbornness" of the professionals who attended the delivery by "Use suction cups instead of a C-section as claimed by the mother".
He also criticizes the use of suction cup during childbirth because he considers it a practice “Too much used”, that "Attentive to the health and life of babies".
Following this letter and this case I have been able to read and listen to words for and against the sucker, debate that does not make much sense to me. Ideally, of course, a baby is born vaginally without any intervention. Professionals should ensure that this could always happen, encouraging women to give birth standing or squatting to harness the force of gravity, force equivalent to that which can be applied with the use of forceps.
Nature is sometimes capricious and, even with the best conditions, it may happen that obstetrician intervention is necessary and the use of instruments is necessary to help the baby be born. Similarly, when the thing is twisted enough, a caesarean section can always be performed to avoid risks or problems that may be generated.
So, the logical thing is to say that, if all goes well, vaginal delivery and, if the thing is twisted, instruments or caesarean section. The fact that a mother asks for a C-section cannot be an argument to criticize the suction cup as a practice to help a baby to be born, because there was a time when many mothers asked for caesarean section and some doctors did not have much qualms about doing them (especially in private) and both WHO and professionals and future parents complain about operating lightly on a non-ill woman, with the risks that this entails for mother and baby.
It is not that I want to defend anyone nor do I have special interest in defending the use of the suction cup, but we would have to know the case and we would have to know what really happened, because perhaps the problem was not the suction cup, but it was used when it was not indicated .
I comment because all medical techniques can bring benefits well used and at the right time and can be devastating if you use them when not indicated. Should the suction cup be discontinued? I do not see why.
The Patient Advocate says that it is an overly used practice that threatens the health of babies and mothers, but it is that Caesarean section has also been an overused practice for many years that threatens the health of babies and mothers (to be done many times when it was not necessary). It makes no sense to ask to change one for another. Perhaps the correct question would be: Was there a misuse of the suction cup or was it not indicated in this delivery? Well it is possible.
