Why are the United States one of the most dangerous places in the developed world to give birth?

Hundreds of American women die each year while giving birth, and hospitals across the country do not systematically follow practices that would save women's lives during childbirth, according to a new USA Today survey.

Each year, approximately 50,000 American women are seriously injured and 700 die during delivery, the survey found. This makes the United States one of the most dangerous places in the world developed to give birth, USA Today said.

Indeed, the United States has one of the highest maternal mortality rates among developed countries. deaths per 100,000 live births. The United States is one of five high-income countries to have a rate greater than 15 deaths per 100,000 live births, according to a 2016 article on maternal mortality published in The Lancet. (Argentina, Brunei, Chile and Uruguay are the other developed countries with high maternal mortality rates.)

And many other developed countries – Germany, France, Japan and England – have seen their maternal mortality rates fall. decades, the United States has seen an increase in maternal mortality during this period. [9 Uncommon Conditions That Pregnancy May Bring]

So, why is the US rate so high? The USA Today survey examined over half a million pages of records from dozens of hospitals in New York, Pennsylvania and North and South Carolina, finding that hospitals were not following often not the recommendations that can save women's lives. For example, less than half of the maternity patients in these hospitals were promptly treated for dangerously high blood pressure that increases the risk of stroke, according to USA Today. Many hospitals have also failed to take steps to accurately quantify women's blood loss, which may indicate whether they may have died from bleeding.

"Experts say that about 50% of women's deaths related to childbirth could be" Alison Young, the author of the survey, told CBS This Morning. "And it's a really startling thing, given that we're one of the richest countries in the world and we spend a lot on medical care."

Young said that more than 40 years of hospitals must follow evidence-based practices California is an example of how attention to the problem can lead to results After state researchers have begun to promote "kits" of tools "to reduce deaths and injuries during childbirth, the maternal mortality rate of states has halved between 2009 and 2015, reported USA Today.These toolkits include policies, procedures and checklists that seem to help save ie, California now has a maternal mortality rate of only 4 deaths per 100,000 live births – the lowest among the 47 states in the country with recent data available, according to the survey.

"They are one of the first adopters where the organization out there really pushed hospitals to follow these evidence-based best practices," Young said.

Original article on Live Science