Jesse Bennett, sometimes spelled Bennet, practiced medicine in the US during the late eighteenth century and performed one of the first successful cesarean operations, later called cesarean sections, in 1794. Following complications during his wife’s childbirth, Bennett made an incision through her lower abdomen and uterus to deliver their infant. Bennett’s biographers report that his operation was the first cesarean section where both the pregnant woman and the infant survived. Previously, physicians used cesarean sections to save the fetus from a pregnant woman who had already died during childbirth. Bennett successfully performed a cesarean section, a procedure used worldwide in the twenty-first century when a vaginal delivery is not possible or would pose a risk to the woman or fetus.

Maria Regina Torloni and colleagues published “Classifications for Cesarean Section: A Systematic Review,” hereafter “Classifications for C-sections,” in 2011 in the journal PLOS One. A Cesarean section, or C-section, is a surgical birth through an incision in the pregnant person’s abdomen and uterus. Across the world, medical professionals use many different C-section classification systems to group the procedures according to particular features of the medical situation, such as the person undergoing the C-section or their specific medical needs. The authors of “Classifications for C-sections” systematically review the various available classification systems and evaluate them to identify their strengths and weaknesses. In “Classifications for C-sections,” the authors stress the need for a standardized classification system that experts can use to communicate internationally and address the health needs of pregnant people seeking C-sections.