Maternal injuries happening at ‘absurdly high’ rate in Canada during labour. Why?

globalnews.ca:

The use of forceps and vacuum delivery tools during labour has resulted in an alarmingly high number of maternal traumas in Canada, such as severe perineal and cervical tears, according to a recent report.

Published in the BMJ on Thursday, an analysis spearheaded by McMaster University revealed that among high-income nations, Canada has the highest incidence of maternal trauma stemming from deliveries involving forceps or vacuum extraction tools.

“Of the most distressing complication of those injuries is fecal and anal incontinence. That’s the involuntary loss of liquid and solid stool,” explained the paper’s lead author, Giulia Muraca, an assistant professor in the departments of obstetrics and gynecology and health research methods, evidence and impact at McMaster University.

“We only know the tip of the iceberg when it comes to those complications because they’re incredibly stigmatized. Women are ashamed,” she told Global News.

Forceps and vacuum instruments are used in childbirth to assist with the delivery of a baby when there are complications, Muraca said. Examples of this include fetal distress, prolonged labour or the personal choice of either the patient or the doctor.

If possible, it can also be used as an alternative and less invasive method than performing a caesarean section.

But all three methods of delivery come with risks, warned Dr. Amanda Black, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Ottawa and president of the Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada (SOGC).

“Be that just a spontaneous vaginal delivery or an assisted vaginal delivery or a caesarean section … they all have potential risks associated with them,” she said. “Caesarean sections performed in the late