Caesarean section on maternal request for non-medical reasons: Putting the UK National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence guidelines in perspective

The past decade has seen an unprecedented rise in the demand for caesarean sections on maternal request (CSMR), in the absence of any medical or obstetric indication. Much of this rise is the result of the perceived myth of safety of caesarean sections and the changing attitudes of society and the medical profession to childbirth. The debate on the medical, ethical and cost implications of rising rates of caesarean section on maternal request have prompted the issuing of numerous guidelines over the past few years, including one by the National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) in the UK. All these guidelines are uniformly less critical of CSMR than guidelines issued even a decade ago, and suggest valid management strategies. In this chapter, I explore the reasons behind the increase in CSMR and review the current published research, including the risks, benefits, controversies, cost and ethics surrounding CSMR. I then discuss various guidelines, putting the NICE guidelines in perspective.