Delivering a baby by a planned caesarean section is cheaper for the NHS than a vaginal birth, research suggests.
Around £400 could be saved once compensation costs are taken into consideration.
The majority of expectant mothers are being denied a C-section, despite official guidelines saying they should have the choice.
However experts have raised concerns over the guidelines having previously found that the risks of serious complications – including haemorrhaging – are higher with C-sections than vaginal births.
Planned C-sections are £400 cheaper for the NHS than vaginal births after taking compensation claims into consideration, a study has found
In 2017/18, maternity claims represented the biggest area of spend for NHS Resolution, the body that handles NHS compensation claims.
Gynaecological and obstetric injury claims are made when complications such as an injury arise because poor standards of care of negligence.
They can be particularly expensive because babies may need specialist care for life if they are left brain-damaged by labour, for example.
Of the clinical negligence claims notified to the organisation, obstetrics claims represented 10 per cent of clinical claims by number.
But they accounted for 48 per cent of the total value of new claims (£2,166.3million of the total £4,513.2million).
The authors of the latest study said this exceeded the entire cost of all types of deliveries for the year 2017/18 (£1,954.6 million).
Previous economic modelling by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) has found that vaginal deliveries are about £700 cheaper than a planned C-section, but these figures do not take into account compensation claims.
A planned C-section, according to this study, was over £400 per birth cheaper than a vaginal birth.
But when looking at long-term indemnity costs, it could end up being £2,000 to £3,000 less expensive than a planned vaginal birth.
They said the costs for negligence relating to the planned method of birth were found to be approximately nine times higher for planned vaginal birth than for a planned C-section.
One of the authors of new study, Jonathan West, a former NHS consultant in obstetrics and gynaecology who worked at the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital, said: ‘Planning to have a baby naturally is very safe when looked at from the viewpoint of the chance of something going seriously wrong, but very expensive when the human and financial cost of something going wrong actually occurs.
‘We should recognise that women have a right to informed choice, and our study shows that it is unfair to discourage mothers from choosing to Caesarean birth on the grounds of cost.’
For the study, which has been published on the F1000 research website and may be submitted to a medical journal, the team looked at data from Nice, NHS Resolution and NHS Improvement.
Research has shown that women at 75 per cent of UK maternity units are being denied their right to choose a C-section.
NICE guidance says women should be allowed to opt for a planned C-section even if it is not for medical reasons.
Women requesting a C-section with no other medical reason should be offered appropriate discussion and support, NICE says.
But ultimately, if they are regarded as making an informed choice, a C-section should be offered.
Of the 146 trusts that shared their policies with the Birthrights charity last August, only 26 per cent fully complied with the guidelines while 15 per cent refused all elective C-section.
Whether C-sections put women at more risk than vaginal birth is of debate due to conflicting evidence but some experts say that doctors should be more considerate.
While avoiding some after effects of labour such as urinary incontinence, the procedure can lead to scarring of the womb, which heightens the risk of complications during future births.
Older mothers – of which there are soaring numbers – who give birth by C-section are three times more likely to experience severe complications than those who give birth naturally, research has shown.
The numbers of C-sections have increased from 19.7 per cent in 2000 to 26.2 per cent in 2015.