The care of the perioperative cesarean birth patient who has serious medical illnesses has changed in the past decade. The increasing sophistication of monitoring has allowed the obstetrician and anesthesiologist better to modify certain physiologic parameters that are important in the care of the patient whose physiology has been altered by surgery or disease. As an increasing segment of the obstetric population becomes older, and with better survival of medical diseases, the profession as a whole will be challenged by these patients. It will become more important that a certain subset of physicians develop the skills necessary to undertake the care of these patients and that the special needs of these patients be recognized.