"Electronic fetal monitoring—which also includes external monitoring, in which an ultrasound transducer is placed on the mother's stomach—is supposed to prevent deaths by alerting the doctor to complications that would require an emergency Cesarean or vacuum extraction. Which sounds logical enough: The more you monitor the baby, the more likely you are to catch problems instantly. But study after study has proven that EFM is not logical at all, as it provides no benefit to most patients and creates more problems than it catches."

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