Deaths from childbirth on the rise in the US

[ck4829]

U.S. women are dying from childbirth at the highest rate in decades, new government figures show. Though the risk of death is very small, experts believe increasing maternal obesity and a jump in Caesarean sections are partly to blame.

Some numbers crunchers note that a change in how such deaths are reported also may be a factor.

"Those of us who look at this a lot say it's probably a little bit of both," said Dr. Jeffrey King, an obstetrician who led a recent New York state review of maternal deaths.

The U.S. 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.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070824/ap_on_he_me/dying_from_childbirth

[AnneD]

1. And just why...

is this shocking? Because we have the best healthcare in the world, or that folks have the least access to it.

[Elspeth]

2. I'd say a lack of health insurance and the RW fundie PR against late term abortion has contributed

If you're looking at diabetics, in particular, late term abortions can be the difference between the life and death of the pregnant woman. But, the RW only cares about fetuses.

[hedgehog]

4. Read the article - the suggestion is that complications following

C-sections are the problem. there is no indication that lack of access to late term abortion is involved in any way.

[tammywammy]

5. Read the article???

That makes waaaay too much sense. :)

[Elspeth]

13. Dear Tammy, before you mock, put the dots together, kiddo.

See my post below.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

7. Of Course There Aren't. But Zealots Will Be Zealots, Ya Know?

Some cannot overcome their one track minds.

[Elspeth]

14. Hey LoZoccolo, how's it hangin'?

You can also read my post, but I doubt you'll get it.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

17. Yes, I'm LoZoccolo. Your Perception Is Just Brilliant. I'm Stunned By It In Fact!

Why, why, that's some of the most brilliant detective work I've ever seen! You've missed your calling. You really should've been some super sleuth for some metropolitan police force.

Brilliant detective work watson. Just brilliant!

:crazy:

[Elspeth]

12. Did read the article. What causes so many C-sections on diabetic women, as they mention?

Diabetic women tend to have overly large babies (as do pre-diabetic women and those who risk diabetes later in life because the disease runs in the family). When the fetus is too large, the life of the mother is at risk. This is one of the classic reasons for a late term abortion procedure; to prevent the overly large fetus from causing complications at birth and putting the life of the mother at grave risk.

My guess, based on the article's mention of C-sections and diabetic women, is that some diabetic women and their doctors are afraid of a late term abortion procedure (called "partial birth" by the right) because of the hatchet job that the right wing has done on the procedure and the new Supreme Court decision citing "partial birth abortion". The late term abortion is not done and the life of the mother is more at risk than it would have been if the abortion had been done. The C-section, which is the only option at birth for these cases, is even more risky because of the size of the fetus.

C-sections on non-diabetic women are either done electively or by emergency. If they are done by emergency, that may indicate a lack of proper pre-natal screening in many cases. Hence, my remark about health care.

Finally, more and more C-sections are being done electively to suit the schedules of some doctors and some pregnant women, even though these operations are unnecessary. This adds to the overall number of C-sections and, therefore, to the overall amount of risk and the overall number of deaths.

Instead of mocking like children on a schoolyard, you should actually try to put two and two together.

[tammywammy]

3. The rate of caesarean births has gone up quite a bit in the past decade

I can see why the mother's death rate would rise as well.

[LeftyMom]

6. We have the worst care for expectant mothers and new babies in the civilized world.

This really shouldn't be news to anybody who's paying attention.

[Sal Minella]

8. In newborn survival rates, we're something like 42nd in the world.

Cuba has better survival of its newborns than the United States, I remember that one.

[Tsiyu]

9. The good news is

lots of people on DU may not care if women are dying in childbirth, but they will fight to the death to make sure they can star in porn films with little or no hassle!

Yes. Women are kinda screwed in 'Murika. Nobody much cares what happens to our bodies if we're not taking our clothes off for them...

Our "freedom" is a sad illusion

Just an observation


And a kick :kick:

[Iris]

10. yeah. I can just see the post numbers going up, up, up in defense of a woman's right to breastfeed

in public. "You mean those things aren't just for fun?"

[Tsiyu]

16. That's something I will never get

The American male obsession with "boobies" is off the charts, mental territory.

Is it because we tend to be so childish about nursing babies so we shame mothers into hiding the practical use of the breasts?

I remember nursing one of my babies -discreetly in my vehicle - and having two yuppie type women walk by and begin laughing hysterically, as if this was the oddest, most humorous thing they'd ever seen. So it's not just men who are idiots when it comes to breastfeeding. I wondered at the time - late eighties - why some Americans are so freaking immature when it comes to seeing feeding infants the way we were made to feed infants.

Is it that the "breast" has been hijacked by the sex/porn industry and most have forgotten - or never learned - that breasts make milk for babies? And they aren't sharing boobies with no stinkin' babies?

Kinda freaky for America and its infants, huh? How did this nation ever get so damned immature?

[mondo joe]

11. That's pretty dumb, since those who are pro choice about porn are also pro choice

about everything else a woman wants to do with her body.

Here's your big fallacy: number of posts don't reflect how strongly people feel -- they reflect how much ppeople disagree.

No one is disagreeing that this is a problem.

[treestar]

15. Right wing nutjobs applaud progress toward restoring 19th century

conditions.