Doctors have been delivering babies for so long, you would think they'd know how to do it by now. But a report in the Journal of the American Medical Association suggests that a common procedure many obstetricians perform for the good of their patients may actually be doing them harm.
At issue is the operation known as an episiotomy, a small incision made in the perineum just before delivery to prevent tearing. Even as recently as 20 years ago, when I started medical school, doctors were performing episiotomies routinely. Since then, many studies have cast doubt on the value of the operation....
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