This week, a Texas hospital live-tweeted a scheduled caesarean section, from prep to aftermath, sharing information, photos of everything from the tools to the OR staff, and several (graphic) videos. It’s the first fully comprehensive, interactive, live surgery of childbirth to be documented by a hospital staff.
The Women’s Memorial Hermann Hospital in Houston, Texas actually has a social media manager, Natalie Camarata, who, prior to Wednesday’s C-section, has helped broadcast two other procedures (brain surgery and open-heart surgery). “It’s fascinating to pull back the curtain on the mystery of the OR,” she said of the hospital’s decision to live-tweet these operations. She estimates that 72,000 people watched the C-section live on Twitter, with more watching later on other platforms. (The hospital has its own YouTube channel for these events.)
In a statement, the hospital said it sought to educate people on the “most common surgery that many women need to have in order to deliver their baby.” The Storify embedded below contains the entire stream, taking you from pre-op preparations to the actual surgery (warning: it’s gory) and the birth of a little baby boy.
Texas hospital documents a Cesarean section live on Twitter [The Verge]