Women still die in childbirth - even in the US, even in 2014

[cyberswede]

Our friends' 20 y.o. daughter died yesterday, after giving birth to her first child. She was healthy and fit and had a completely normal pregnancy. Other friends who saw her on Easter Sunday at a fundraiser said she was happy and excited about the baby, who was due any day. After the baby was born, the doctors were unable to get her uterus to contract, and she bled to death. In 2014.

About 650 women die each year in the US due to pregnancy/delivery complications.

Pregnancy-Related Deaths (CDC)

Why are American women dying in childbirth?

[MissMillie]

1. I'm so sorry for your friend and her family

what a horrible thing to happen.

Giving birth is supposed to be such a happy thing. I can't imagine... I don't want to imagine.

So sorry

[cyberswede]

14. I know...

her 11 year old sister is friends with my 11 year old daughter - that's how we know them. She was very close to her older sister - I can't imagine what it's like for her - such a young kid.

[Bettie]

2. How sad

Wishes for peace and healing for her family, particularly her husband.

[cyberswede]

15. Thank you

I can't imagine what it's like to be alone with a brand new baby after such a tragedy. He does have a toddler from a previous marriage, so at least he has some experience with kids. I think his own family is nearby, as well, so I hope there's a good support network.

[riderinthestorm]

3. So deeply sad for you and your friends. What a tragedy.

Pregnancy and childbirth are never risk free.

[cyberswede]

16. ...and such a shock, since her pregnancy was totally typical.

She wasn't high-risk, or anything.

Thank you.

[cilla4progress]

4. So sad!

An attorney in our town died in childbirth last year. Her first baby. She was mid-30s, married to another attorney here. She developed an infection about 24 hours after delivering and was gone within a couple days.

Tragic, and very surprising.

[cyberswede]

21. That happened to someone I knew...

long before I was ready to consider children myself, the wife of one of my co-workers had a normal pregnancy and delivery, but developed toxemia (I think) and died a couple days later. She was 24 (older than I was at the time). That has always stuck with me - especially when those who want to vilify abortion push for women to choose adoption as an alternative. (disclaimer: I support adoption for those who choose it).

[shenmue]

5. Mercy

[cyberswede]

17. thanks

[Sheldon Cooper]

6. Yes. I know of two women, both in their early 20's, who died within a day or two after

perfectly healthy pregnancies and deliveries. Don't let anti-choicers try to tell you that pregnancy is not a life-threatening condition. It is.

[cyberswede]

18. Yes, that's one of the reasons I wanted to post here about it

...and to reinforce that childbirth is a medical procedure, so any woman can choose to keep the delivery private, if she chooses.

[hfojvt]

7. ouch, that's rough

the rate in the US is 21 per 100,000 live births
in the UK it is 12
Switzerland 8
Germany 7
Sweden 4

[joeglow3]

25. Those comparisons are worthless

"A pregnancy-related death is defined as the death of a woman during pregnancy or within one year of the end of pregnancy from a pregnancy complication, a chain of events initiated by pregnancy, or the aggravation of an unrelated condition by the physiologic effects of pregnancy."

I don't trust all places to report equally. People like to cite studies showing infant mortality. Most of those same studies say you cannot make nation to nation comparisons because of how shitty many countries do in reporting/classifying these deaths,

[KitSileya]

34. You think countries like Switzerland and Germany are "shitty" in their reporting?

I would be more likely to believe that the number that is "shitty" on that list is the US', because they are more likely to prettify their numbers. Considering the lack of general access to pre-natal and ante-natal health care in the US, the over-use of cæsarian sections, the way most women in the US are forced to work close to birth and really quickly afterwards, it seems more believable that the US has a higher maternal fatality rate than Germany, Switzerland, Sweden et al. At least the latter countries are working hard to lower their numbers of infant and maternal fatalities...the US seems to be doing all it can to increase theirs.

[joeglow3]

35. I don't know

I don't consider myself ethnocentric, but I am also not self-loathing.

[KitSileya]

37. Then I guess it's a good thing that neither am I.

"Self-loathing", that is.... But considering that I spend a couple of months in the US every year, but live in Europe, I may have a better perspective when comparing European countries with the US. Without being "self-loathing", even.

[joeglow3]

40. Where do you spend your time in the US

Do you realize that mortality is higher in rural areas? It is easier to provide higher level of care to more people when your country is densely populated. That is just one problem with comparisons like this. But, I am sure you knew that.

[KitSileya]

44. I do realize you didn't mean to, but considering where I live, your post is quite amusing.

I live in Norway, a country that while a lot narrower than the three West Coast states, is as long as I-5 - reaching from San Diego to Seattle. In area it is as large as New Mexico, with nearly 5 million inhabitants...and 4 cities larger than 100,000 inhabitants. It might not beat Canada when it comes to providing health care to low density areas, but it is pretty close. Giving proper maternal care is an eternal discussion topic in the newspapers, as it is difficult to maintain birthing facilities close enough to avoid over 400 mothers giving birth before reaching hospital each year.

As for where I stay in the US... Springfield, Oregon.

[MADem]

56. Golly gee, how nice that the ACA includes all that pre/ante natal health care, innit?

That should improve the picture considerably.

[B2G]

50. Infant mortality is higher in the US because

more premature babies and those with potentially fatal complications are being subjected to 'heroic efforts' more frequently here. In many other countries, they wouldn't be resuscitated and be counted as a live birth in the first place.

[hfojvt]

53. this is mortality of the mother

not mortality of the baby.

But I do think Joeglow has a point. One cannot be certain of statistical reliability.

[Marrah_G]

8. So unbelievably heartbreaking

I am so sorry to hear of your friends loss. They must be in shock.

[cyberswede]

22. Totally shocked and in despair.

What should have been so happy...I read a Facebook post from yesterday announcing the birth - with lots of "congratualtions" replies...and then the "so sorry" replies after the news started to get around.

[boston bean]

9. I'm totally uninformed over what they might have been able to do

to save her. But the first thing that popped into my mind, is why didn't they remove the uterus?

So sorry to hear about your friends daughter. Very sad.

[cyberswede]

13. I believe they tried a partial hysterectomy

...not clear on all the details. I'm completely uninformed about such things, too.

[joeglow3]

26. Exactly

A married couple that we are friends with are both OB/GYN's. They have had to do some emergency hysterectomies. Something tells me there will be a successful lawsuit in the future.

[COLGATE4]

27. At that point the bleeding is so massive and

overwhelming that there just isn't time to do much of anything. It's a horrible complication of childbirth.

[Ilsa]

41. Sounds like DIC may have set in.

I remember it as "disseminated intravascular coagulopathy. The body responds to the bleeding inappropriately, platelets are drained, the body tries to clot, the body can over-clot, causing organ problems and multiple organ failure. Infusions don't always help, and the body starts bleeding out around IVs, under the intricate process of coagulation cascades into bleeding out.

[Tsiyu]

10. Yet the Right love to pretend

pregnancy is no more a threat to life than a walk in the garden.


In 2014.......

Sorry for your loss

[CBGLuthier]

31. nothing like throwing your agenda into someone else's tragedy

Shhesh that is kind of low class.

[cyberswede]

38. No, part of the reason I posted this...

is to remind people that even in 2014, pregnancy/childbirth can be fatal. It's an important factor that anti-choice types fail to appreciate when they argue that anyone can have a baby & just put it up for adoption. An unwanted pregnancy is about more than just not wanting to be a parent - it can be about not wanting your body to go through the whole experience.

[redqueen]

47. Thank you.

So much.

[Brickbat]

11. Thoughts to your friend's family.

Childbirth is a precarious, dangerous time, no matter how healthy the woman is. Childbirth kills more women in the U.S. than legal abortion.

[dilby]

12. Sorry to hear about your friend I hope her child is ok.

[greatlaurel]

19. What a tragedy. Please accept my condolences.

Pregnancy is very dangerous here and the mortality rates are increasing in the US. It is a public health crisis. It does not need to be this way.

[MicaelS]

20. How terrible.

I am truly sorry for your friends.

[pipi_k]

23. so shocking

to know that this sort of thing still happens...here, in the US...now, in 2014.

Back 40+ years ago I had two things happen that likely would have killed me 100 years ago.

First child, Puerperal Fever.

Third child, Placenta Abruptio with hemorrhaging.


Yes, I agree with everyone else who said that pregnancy/childbirth is still dangerous...not something to be taken lightly.

My condolences to all

[LiberalEsto]

24. That's horrible

I'm so sorry for your friend's loss.

If men had babies, I'll bet there would be good treatments for this kind of complication.

[NM_Birder]

52. "if men had babies"

There would be a whole LOT different than better treatments for this kind of complication.
men, it's all their fault, it always is.

[Freddie]

28. This is *exactly* why no woman should be forced to give birth against her will!

How horrible, so very sorry. When things go wrong in childbirth they can go very wrong very fast. My daughter is having her 2nd child in June by scheduled c-section which is kind of comforting.

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

29. +1.

Childbirth is dangerous, even for the healthiest of women.

Which is probably why there's now a trend for 'elective surrogacy' among well-off women. Let other women deal with the discomfort of pregnancy, and the dangers of childbirth, if you've got the money to do so is the new mantra among our plutocratic overlords.

[Ilsa]

42. I'm not trying to scare you,

But an elective c-section doesn't preclude problems like excessive bleeding from occurring. In fact, there tends to be more bleeding, and the pain from the incision compared to a vaginal delivery can create additional problems.

I hope for the best for her surgical birth, and agree with you wholeheartedly about not forcing pregnancy on unwilling women.

[Freddie]

45. This will be her 2nd c-section

And probably last. Her daughter was breech so they didn't give her a choice, and her docs think there's too much risk for her to try "regular" birth this time even if my grandson is in the right position. So she knows what to expect with discomfort and possible other complications.
What I find scary (and honestly, stupid) are women who give birth at home with midwives. There's just too much that can go wrong (and fast) for both mother and baby to not be in a hospital setting IMO.

[Ilsa]

46. The fact that it's a second one will improve her odds.

Don't be too quick to condemn mothers who homebirth. I live in an area where C sections were once the second highest in the country, over 40% of births at one time years ago, with no explanation for why they were that high, except for the doctor's convenience. I even witnessed it as a student nurse on L&D rotation. Women who wanted more natural and safer births traveled 100 miles or used midwives to avoid the local mega-practices with those high rates.

Midwives screen the mothers for risk, and they get the same lab work done. Referrals are made when necessary if it looks like medical complications are arising. Midwives also practice a number of procedures that have been used for hundreds of years that favor the health and comfort of the mother and baby over the convenience of the doctor and staff and hospital billables.

The medical model with interventions for monitoring and reacting to every blip has its disadvantages as well, creating the need for more interventions with more potential for adverse side effects.

I've known several midwives and they are very professional women, take loads of continuing education and certifications, with experience working under other midwives before they are licensed. I have several friends who won't use an OB again unless it's an emergency or high risk pregnancy.

Midwives have incredible safety records and the midwife model is used successfully in many other industrialized countries. I think the US' s over-reliance on the medical model is one reason among many that our L&D statistics are statistics are so poor compared to other industrialized countries.

[Stargazer09]

54. +1

Midwives are awesome.

[azurnoir]

30. How horrible and sad

yes women still die from child birth, even in this day and age

on a side note 17 years ago I nearly became one of stats, it took 6 weeks in ICU and 2 reconstructive surgeries to recover

[mnhtnbb]

32. Oh, that is so sad.

Childbirth is dangerous. My heart goes out to the father, grandparents, relatives
and all the friends who were looking forward to such a happy time with a new
baby.

[libodem]

33. So horribly sad

We almost lost my friend's daughter a few years ago. She is small the baby was large and the labor intense. It ripped some vessels in her heart. She had complaints of dizziness and shortness of breath but was sent home anyway. She had to call an ambulance to take her back to the hospital the next day. She underwent open heart surgery twice. They missed a tear in the back of the vessel.
She was called the miracle mom in the Pocatello paper. I can't imagine if we had lost her at such a vulnerable moment in a families life.

OMG that poor family.

[KitSileya]

36. I am really sorry for your loss, and my thoughts go out to her family.

Pregnancy is dangerous, still, and in countries with less access to health care it is more dangerous. However, even with state of the art health care, pregnancy isn't without dangers, and as such, should be a choice for the person who decides to carry a child to term.

[AverageJoe90]

39. My sincerest condolences, CyberSwede. ='(

So sorry to hear about that. Definitely tragic when somebody dies that young.

[Ilsa]

43. I am so sorry for you and your friends.

This is a heartbreaking loss.

Another danger besides bleeding to death includes major stroke from bloodclots. I've known of local women dying 3-4 days postpartum at home from this.

[LeftishBrit]

48. I am so sorry.

[redqueen]

49. I'm so sorry, cyberswede. I wasn't going to comment but now I will add some more agenda.

Pregnancy is a health risk. To anyone who claims that birth control and abortion shouldn't be covered by insurance because pregnancy is not a disease is ignoring the many risks that go along with carrying a pregnancy to term.

[Jenoch]

51. I'm so sorry for the loss of your friends' daughter.

My 82 year old father's best friend is a retired OBGYN. When he retired, the nurses at his clinic went over the records and figured out that he had successfully delivered 11,000 babies. He rarely talks about the babies or the mothers that died when he was with them in the delivery room. He's 86 years old now and still has an eidetic memory (photographic) memory and he remembers every single baby and mother he lost. (He gets tears if the topic comes up.)

[Stargazer09]

55. I'm so sorry for your loss

What a tragedy.