Hospitals Are Often Skipping Easy Procedures That Could Drastically Cut Down On Maternal Deaths
The U.S. continues to fall behind other developed countries when it comes to maternal mortality. A USA Today investigation looks at how doctors and nurses are ignoring simple safety practices that could improve those numbers.
USA Today:
Hospitals Know How To Protect Mothers. They Just Aren’t Doing It.
Every year, thousands of women suffer life-altering injuries or die during childbirth because hospitals and medical workers skip safety practices known to head off disaster, a USA TODAY investigation has found. Doctors and nurses should be weighing bloody pads to track blood loss so they recognize the danger sooner. They should be giving medication within an hour of spotting dangerously high blood pressure to fend off strokes. These are not complicated procedures requiring expensive technology. They are among basic tasks that experts have recommended for years because they can save mothers’ lives. (Young, 7/26)
USA Today:
'Mommy Went To Heaven'
Like thousands of women facing childbirth emergencies every year, YoLanda Mention didn’t get the care recommended by leading experts for new mothers experiencing severe high blood pressure, according to court records. Now, her family goes on without her. (Young, 7/26)
USA Today:
Deadly Deliveries: How Hospitals Are Failing Mothers In 13 Graphics
The U.S. healthcare system is one of the most expensive in the world. Yet America’s maternal death rate is the highest among developed nations. (7/26)
USA Today:
Deadly Deliveries: “I Am One Of The 50,000” (Videos)
Women from across the country retell harrowing stories of surviving life-threatening complications during childbirth. (7/26)
People:
Woman Dies Days After Giving Birth As Medics Assumed She Can't Afford Ambulance Ride, Mom Claims
A mother of three from Florida died days after experiencing a stroke, and the four paramedics who arrived on scene have now been suspended after an investigation revealed they mishandled the response, PEOPLE confirms. In the early morning hours of July 4, Nicole Black found her daughter, 30-year-old Crystle Galloway, unresponsive in a bathtub just six days after she had given birth to a son via cesarean. When Galloway regained consciousness a short time later and complained about her head, Black quickly called emergency services and explained that her daughter was breathing but was “drooling from the mouth,” she told the Tampa Bay Times. (Hahn, 6/27)