In an article by Judy Siegel-Itzkovich, Dr. Raphael Pollack,
medical director and chief of obstetrics/gynecology in Jerusalem's Bikur Cholim
General Hospital, has been conducting what is known as external cephalic
version (ECV). External cephalic version is a process used during
pregnancy that attempts to avoid cesarean sections from 'breech babies' by turning the baby's body around so that it
comes out head first instead of feet first. The mother can have a 'virtually
painless' delivery under anesthesia. This also can avoid complications during
the recovery process and lessen expense which tend to be much higher with breech
babies because more medical care, recovery time, and money is required. Dr.
Pollack estimated that hundreds of millions of dollars go to cesareans per year
in the United States. Turning babies over is a way of reducing the
economic expense.
The external cephalic version is usually used while women are in their ninth month of pregnancy. Dr. Pollack asks women to drink two liters of water to fill the bladder, which makes the fetus float upward, making it easier to move. He monitors the fetus with ultrasound to find the location and injects a ritadrine into the mother to relax the muscles of the uterus. When the fetus is located he flips it over to be positioned to come out head first. The monitoring can take three to four hours but the EVC takes only a few minutes. His success rate has been about 74 percent, which he finds to be a very good number, explaining that it is impossible to achieve 100% success rates because of uterine malformations.
Dr. Raphael Pollack's career starts in Montreal, where he was born. He attended Medicine at McGill University and worked at Yeshiva University's Einstein College of Medicine in New York. He joined Bikur Cholim General Hospital right after he moved to Israel in 1993. Pollack has performed a total of 1,372 ECV's. He originally went into trying to perform vaginal birth after c-sections (VBAC) but Western hospitals did not have the facilities or manpower to do emergency c-sections in case something went wrong during a VBAC, so he began researching ECV's. Still considered a 'fringe' technique, Bikur Cholim has the highest rate of breech deliveries in the country.
The external cephalic version is usually used while women are in their ninth month of pregnancy. Dr. Pollack asks women to drink two liters of water to fill the bladder, which makes the fetus float upward, making it easier to move. He monitors the fetus with ultrasound to find the location and injects a ritadrine into the mother to relax the muscles of the uterus. When the fetus is located he flips it over to be positioned to come out head first. The monitoring can take three to four hours but the EVC takes only a few minutes. His success rate has been about 74 percent, which he finds to be a very good number, explaining that it is impossible to achieve 100% success rates because of uterine malformations.
Dr. Raphael Pollack's career starts in Montreal, where he was born. He attended Medicine at McGill University and worked at Yeshiva University's Einstein College of Medicine in New York. He joined Bikur Cholim General Hospital right after he moved to Israel in 1993. Pollack has performed a total of 1,372 ECV's. He originally went into trying to perform vaginal birth after c-sections (VBAC) but Western hospitals did not have the facilities or manpower to do emergency c-sections in case something went wrong during a VBAC, so he began researching ECV's. Still considered a 'fringe' technique, Bikur Cholim has the highest rate of breech deliveries in the country.
Bikur
Cholim have been going through tough times trying to not to close its doors. It
was saved five years ago from closing by Arkady Gaydamak, a Russian oligarch. He
was campaigning for Jerusalem's mayor during that time and decided to buy the
hospital. He was unsuccessful in winning his campaign and left Israel due to
lawsuits. From time to time he visits the hospital but it is left on its own to
stay afloat. Pollack took over the leadership as medical and administrative
director. Now Shaare Zedek Medical Center and Hadassah University Medical
Center have come into the picture. Shaare Zedek is Israel's number one medical
center for deliveries. Pollack views this as a good thing. He feels that major
metropolitan areas need more medical centers. He also feels that there is
limited space in these places and people will still need Bikur Cholim and
smaller community hospitals.
The author obviously has a bias towards Dr. Pollack. With a 75% success rate, Siegel-Itzkovich fails to mention any dangers or harmful effects of an external cephalic version, only mentioning Pollack's quote of being very 'disappointed when it doesn't work'. It gives no true account of what happens to women if or when it doesn't work out except that a breech delivery ends up being the alternative, but she fails to mention anything about those breech deliveries rate of success. The author's mention of the hospital's history and it's threat of shutting down had absolutely no point to the original story. The first half of the article is about EVC delivery techniques and the benefits of it working over a VBAC, and then the author shoots over to Arkady Gaydamak buying the hospital for his mayoral campaign agenda. The thread gets cut at this point. It seems as though the author used two different 'hooks' to reel in the reader. The first one being 'fringe' medical techniques, and the second being the possibility of the hospitals demise and competition from other hospitals growing. It seems as though the author ran out of material to meet her quota, or really liked throwing as much as she could and molding it into one story.
The author obviously has a bias towards Dr. Pollack. With a 75% success rate, Siegel-Itzkovich fails to mention any dangers or harmful effects of an external cephalic version, only mentioning Pollack's quote of being very 'disappointed when it doesn't work'. It gives no true account of what happens to women if or when it doesn't work out except that a breech delivery ends up being the alternative, but she fails to mention anything about those breech deliveries rate of success. The author's mention of the hospital's history and it's threat of shutting down had absolutely no point to the original story. The first half of the article is about EVC delivery techniques and the benefits of it working over a VBAC, and then the author shoots over to Arkady Gaydamak buying the hospital for his mayoral campaign agenda. The thread gets cut at this point. It seems as though the author used two different 'hooks' to reel in the reader. The first one being 'fringe' medical techniques, and the second being the possibility of the hospitals demise and competition from other hospitals growing. It seems as though the author ran out of material to meet her quota, or really liked throwing as much as she could and molding it into one story.
