Briefly

Caesarean sections on rise in U.S.

Washington More than 27 percent of the babies born in the United States last year were delivered by Caesarean section, a record high for the surgical method that is a controversial subject among both obstetricians and mothers.

Birth rates for teenagers continued their steady decline, but rates increased for women 35 to 44, the government said Tuesday.

Nearly 4.1 million births were recorded in the United States in 2003, a slight increase over 2002, according to a report from the National Center for Health Statistics, part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Roughly 1.13 million, or 27.6 percent, were Caesarean deliveries, up from 26.1 percent in 2002. The rate is up by a third since 1996, said the report, which is a preliminary look at U.S. births last year.

A Caesarean section is major abdominal surgery with potentially serious side effects. The report does not distinguish between those that were medically necessary and those that were elective.

There were 70,000 fewer vaginal deliveries following previous Caesareans, known as VBACs, last year than in 2002. Some research has found increased risk in such vaginal deliveries in certain circumstances.

The drop-off in the procedure follows a 1999 change in guidelines from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists that essentially limits VBACs to large, urban hospitals with continually staffed operating rooms, said Eugene Declercq, professor of maternal and child health at the Boston University School of Public Health.

A group opposed to medically unnecessary Caesareans said 300 U.S. hospitals have banned the vaginal deliveries after C-sections in recent years, contributing to the rise in Caesarean deliveries.

“Doctors get sued for the Caesareans they don’t do or don’t do fast enough, not the unnecessary ones,” said Tonya Jamois, president of the International Caesarean Awareness Network. “Hospitals make more money off Caesareans than vaginal births. There is an economic incentive and a lot of defensive medicine going on.”

The OB/GYN organization advocates a case-by-case approach that weighs the risks of both methods of delivery.

Library restricts adults’ use of children’s section

Orlando, Fla. Libraries in Orange County have barred unaccompanied adults from lingering in the children’s areas of its 14 branches, a policy that is among the first of its kind in the nation.

Since Nov. 1, adults without children may select items in the children’s section, but they cannot read books or loiter in the department, said Marilyn Hoffman, community-relations coordinator.

Officials with the Association for Library Service to Children said many libraries limit adults’ use of computers or bathrooms in the children’s departments, but Orange County’s policy could be the first in the nation to restrict adults’ presence in the areas.

“It’s not a common trend, but I think it’s going to become more common,” said Cynthia Richey, a former association president. “It’s, in part, a pre-emptive move.”

Although Hoffman said no specific incident led to the new rules, Orlando police arrested a man in August after a 15-year-old girl said he tried to molest her at the downtown library.

Shipping executive convicted of illegal dumping

Miami The head of a shipping company was convicted Tuesday of directing the illegal dumping of 442 tons of fuel-contaminated wheat from a freighter into the South China Sea.

Rick Dean Stickle could get up to five years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine.

Stickle, chairman and chief executive of Sabine Transportation Inc. of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, was indicted after crew members reported the crime to the Coast Guard.

Sabine pleaded guilty last year to dumping the oily grain and agreed to pay $2 million in penalties. Sabine’s president and three other employees also pleaded guilty and testified against their former boss.

The wheat was pumped and shoveled overboard as the 853-foot freighter Juneau headed home to Portland in 1999.

The wheat was contaminated with diesel fuel that had leaked into the ship’s cargo hold. The leak was discovered when the grain shipment that was intended for distribution by the humanitarian group CARE was being unloaded in Bangladesh.

The defense argued that crooked and incompetent underlings thought they had Coast Guard approval to dump the tainted wheat, and that some of the problems with the shipment were not brought to Stickle’s attention.

Con Ed settles with electrocuted woman’s family

New York The family of a woman electrocuted while walking her dogs last winter received an unspecified cash settlement Tuesday from the utility that acknowledged her death was caused by an improperly wrapped wire.

Consolidated Edison also agreed to fund a $1 million scholarship and research fund at Columbia University in memory of Jodie Lane, 30, a doctoral student who was killed Jan. 16 when she stepped on the metal cover of a utility box while walking her two dogs.

The Lane family, using part of the settlement, plans to create a foundation to pursue ways to improve public safety in the city.

A utility investigation revealed that a year before Lane’s death, workers wrapped an exposed wire in the box with electrical tape, rather than required rubber and plastic tapes. The electrical tape eventually deteriorated and the copper wire was exposed again.

Con Ed, in a statement, said it would continue to implement its program to eliminate stray voltage incidents. Between 2000-2003, Con Ed reached settlements in 11 electric shock cases.

Off-duty deputy won’t get worker’s comp for injuries

Denver A sheriff’s deputy injured while trying to rescue a baby from a burning home has been denied worker’s compensation for his medical bills because he was off duty at the time.

George Gatchis was turned back twice by thick smoke when he tried to crawl through the suburban Aurora home to reach 3-month-old Reginald “Donovan” King on Thursday, who was found dead about 15 feet from the front door.

Gatchis was on his way home from his overnight shift with the Denver Sheriff’s Department when he saw smoke and tried to help. He nearly lost consciousness once and suffered smoke inhalation in the rescue attempt.

Gatchis said Monday his supervisors told him he must use his health insurance to cover his medical bills because he was not on duty.

“In uniform or not, you’re still trained to react to something; you’re going to do it,” Gatchis said. “Unfortunately, we may be left out to dry.”

Worker’s compensation would cover all his bills, but his insurance will leave Gatchis with deductibles and copays.

Three other children and a woman escaped unharmed from the fire, which is under investigation.

Vandals destroy 237 wheels of cheese

Monkton, Vt. Wanted: Cheese vandals.

Someone sneaked into the production house at Orb Weaver Farm and punctured 237 wheels of cheese at the Orb Weaver Farm.

The cheese, a blend of havarti and colby that made up nearly a year’s production at the farm, can no longer be sold or eaten because of the contamination last week.

Orb Weaver Farm’s Vermont Farmhouse Cheese is sold to local restaurants and stores. It was used in a recipe for macaroni and cheese in the recent cookbook “The Way We Cook: Recipes from the New American Kitchen.”

A cash reward is being offered for information leading to an arrest.