Cytotec and Drugs in Labor

Learn about the effects of drugs used during labor and other interventions.

• Cytotec Induction and Off-Label Use - by Marsden Wagner, MD, MS
  When obstetricians using Cytotec induction are confronted about their willingness to use a drug "off-label," they inevitably answer: "We use drugs off-label all the time." There are several serious problems with this answer. First, in reality, using Cytotec for induction is not "off-label" at all—it is "on-label contraindicated." On the Cytotec label it is explicitly written that this drug is contraindicated for use on pregnant women.
• Misoprostol (Cytotec) for Labor Induction: A Cautionary Tale - by Marsden Wagner, MD, MS
  While the United States has a system in place to ensure that all drugs must be evaluated by the FDA before allowed on the market and that certain drugs are to be dispensed only through physician prescription, there is a hole in this system....
• Misoprostol: More on the dangers of Cytotec - by Marsden Wagner, MD, MS
• Midwives and Cytotec: A True Story - by Marsden Wagner, MD, MS
• Forced Labor - by David Goodman (Mother Jones magazine)
  Since Cytotec was introduced in 1988, a growing number of obstetricians have embraced it as a "miracle" drug—in spite of data that leave serious doubts about its safety. Lacking FDA approval and scientific consensus on how to use it on pregnant women, doctors have taken it upon themselves to administer Cytotec to their patients—often without the women's informed consent....
• Drugs in Labour - by Beverley Lawrence Beech
  Childbirth is a normal physiological event. However, since the advent of universal hospitalisation, for the majority of women childbirth has been transformed into a medical event where labour is processed, monitored and controlled by the medical profession from beginning to end....
• Technology in Birth: First Do No Harm - by Marsden Wagner, MD
  Cesarean section can save the life of the mother or her baby. Cesarean section can also kill a mother or her baby. How can this be? Because every single procedure or technology used during pregnancy and birth carries risks, both for mother and baby. The decision to use technology is a judgment call—it may either make things better or worse....
• Ultrasound - by Beverley Lawrence Beech
  The use of ultrasound in antenatal care is big business, and in any big business marketing is all-important. As a result of decades of enthusiastic marketing, women believe they can ensure the well being of their babies by reporting for an early ultrasound scan and that early detection of a problem is beneficial for these babies. That is not necessarily so, and there are a number of studies which show that early detection can be harmful....
• Ultrasound: More Harm than Good? - by Marsden Wagner, MD
  It is not only doctors who have tried to promote ultrasound with statements that go beyond the scientific data. Commercial interests also have been actively promoting ultrasound, and not only to doctors and hospitals....

Related information:

• Epidemics: Epidural, Ultrasound, Cytotec and More (Audio Tape)
• Epidemics Uncovered/Changing Attitudes (Audio Tape)
• Serving Women in Hospital Birth 5: Dealing with Consumer Demand (Audio Tape)
• Midwifery Today Issue Number 49
• Midwifery Today Issue Number 51
• Midwifery Today Issue Number 57