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(Meredith) – Extensive Investigation by USA Today Journalists Reveals USA as Most Dangerous Nation to Give Birth
The vast majority of births go well, but every year about 700 mothers die of childbirth in the United States and more than 50,000 suffer serious injuries. And the number of mothers who die of childbirth actually increases.
Between 1990 and 2015, the number of maternal deaths per 100,000 births increased from less than 18 to more than 26 years. Other nations like Germany, England and Canada have fewer than 10 deaths per 100,000 births – and most of its numbers are down. The survey cites information from this study published in The Lancet Medical Journal.
In the United States, maternal mortality rates vary considerably from one state to another. Louisiana, Georgia, and Indiana all have more than 40 deaths per 100,000 births. California, the safest place to give birth in the United States, has only 4 deaths per 100,000 births. The survey attempts to determine why mothers in California survive when mothers in Louisiana do not.
The investigation concludes that the best way to prevent deaths caused by childbirth is to strictly follow known safety practices for years. The main causes of these preventable deaths are excessive bleeding and hypertension. Health experts agree that hospitals should measure the amount of blood lost by a patient during delivery, and monitor and respond quickly to changes in blood pressure. These safety measures are widely applied in California, but hospitals elsewhere have been slow to adopt these practices. Steven Clark, an expert in childbirth safety at Baylor College of Medicine, said, "Our medicine is now run by cowboys, where everyone does what they want … it is a failure at all levels, level of national organization and level of leadership of local hospitals.
The understanding and adoption of these important security measures has increased in recent years. The Alliance for Innovation in Maternal Health has a program for childbirth safety, and last year, the number of hospitals participating in their program doubled . There are now 985 hospitals participating in the AIM program, about 40% of the US birth hospitals
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