"US childbirth mortality rate increases; Obesity, rise in caesareans eyed as factors"
By Mike Stobbe, Associated Press | August 25, 2007
ATLANTA -- US women are dying in childbirth at the highest rate in decades, new government figures show. The US maternal mortality rate rose to 13 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2004, according to statistics released this week by the National Center for Health Statistics.
The rate was 12 per 100,000 live births in 2003, the first time the maternal death rate rose above 10 since 1977.
[George Bush's AmeriKa! More death every where you look!]
Death in childbirth remains fairly rare in the United States. The death of infants is much more common -- the nation's infant mortality rate was 679 per 100,000 live births in 2004.
[Infant mortality. ANOTHER tremendous, yet invisible scandal.]
Maternal deaths were a much more common tragedy long ago. Nearly 1 in every 100 live births resulted in a mother's death as recently as 90 years ago.
But the fact that maternal deaths are rising at all these days is shocking, said Tim Davis, a Virginia man whose wife, Elizabeth, died after childbirth in 2000:
"The hardest thing to understand is how in this day and age, in a modern hospital with doctors and nurses, that somebody can just die like that."
[I agree, and oh, does my heart go out to Davis. How tragic!!!]
Some health statisticians said the total number of maternal deaths -- still fewer than 600 each year -- is small. It is so small that 50 to 100 additional deaths could raise the rate, said Donna Hoyert, a scientist with the National Center for Health Statistics.
Some researchers point to the rising C-section rate, now 29 percent of all births, which is far higher than what public health specialists say is appropriate. Like other surgeries, caesareans come with risks related to anesthesia, infections, and blood clots.
Excessive bleeding is one of the leading causes of pregnancy-related death, and women with several previous C-sections are at especially high risk, according to a review of maternal deaths in New York. Blood vessel blockages and infections are among the other leading causes.
Specialists also say obesity may be a factor. Heavier women are more prone to diabetes and other complications, and they may have excess tissue and larger babies that make a vaginal delivery more problematic.
Age could be a factor, too. More women are giving birth in their late 30s and 40s, when complication risks are greater.
Other characteristics of the maternal mortality rate include:
- Race: Studies have found that the maternal death rate for black women is at least three times greater than is it is for whites. Black women are more susceptible to complications such as high blood pressure and are more likely to get inadequate prenatal care.
- Quality of care: Three studies indicate that at least 40 percent of maternal deaths could have been prevented.
Valerie Scythes, a 35-year-old elementary school teacher, died in March at a hospital in New Jersey -- the state with the highest caesarean section rate. She had had a C-section, as did another teacher at the same school who died after giving birth at the same hospital two weeks later.
Scythes, however, died of a blocked blood vessel, and the other woman died from bleeding, said John Baldante, a Philadelphia lawyer investigating the death for Scythes's family.
Also mysterious was the death of Tim Davis's 37-year-old wife, Elizabeth, who died a day after a vaginal delivery at a Danville, Va., hospital in September 2000.
She had a heart attack after massive blood loss, Davis said. It is not clearly known what caused the heavy bleeding. There was no autopsy, he said, a decision he regrets. Two previous births had gone well.
[Truly, I can imagine nothing more soul-destroying and heartbreaking to have your partner taken from you on a day that is filled with the most blessed event in this world: the giving of life.
It is with great sadness that I contemplate Mr. Davis' loss, and wish him peace.
Why doesn't America take care of the mothers and children, and why does it spend billions on war to shatter them in far away places?
