C-Section spinal - Why husband asked to stay outside?

Specialties Ob/Gyn

Published

Hi everyone!

My husband and I were discussing my c-section I had last year and we were curious as to why he was not allowed in the room during the spinal? Is it liability thing on the hospital's part?

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Specializes in OB/GYN, L&D, Postpartum Couplet Care.

I don't know if it's for the same reason everywhere but I know at our hospital it's because the anesthesiologist wants to make sure there are no complications with the spinal before family is allowed in. If you'd ended up with a high spinal which affected your respiratory status, you would have been given general anesthesia and would have been intubated. Family is never allowed in the OR if the pt is under general. It just prevents a stressful scene with family being asked to leave and left to worry that their loved ones were not ok.

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Specializes in OB-Gyn/Primary Care/Ambulatory Leadership.

Yes, it's in case the spinal doesn't take, in which case the woman would need a general, and the partner would have to leave anyway.

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Specializes in Pediatrics, High-Risk L&D, Antepartum, L.

Ditto to the above. Nobody wants to see their loved one under general nor do you want to be asked to leave if the spinal doesn't work and we don't want to ask you to leave.

So...family comes in when everything is good to go.

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Now it all makes sense!! Thanks everyone!

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I have heard, not in the USA, they stopped allowing family members at al because they were having to deal with non-patients

fainting and causing a lot of trouble in the OR.

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I recently heard a story about a husband passing out and cracking his head on the ground. Could be that the anesthesiologist prefers to only have to worry about 1 patient in the room ;-)

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