Birth after Previous Caesarean Birth
New Green Top guidance from the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (October 2015) has recommended that there should be a very clear pathway when a lady has had a previous caesarean section in terms of management of subsequent labour and delivery.
Women should be offered a proper discussion with an obstetrician about her options but this should not automatically be another caesarean section: she should be given comprehensive information about the risks in general and any specific risks in her case and be allowed to choose for herself what the best means would be for her.
Hopefully this simply reiterates what is already good practice in this area and goes hand-in-hand with the recent clarification of the law on consent in the Supreme Court case of Montgomery v Lanarkshire Health Board.