Maternity Death Rates Are Very High In The U.S., But Congress Doesn't Seem To Care

[xchrom]

http://www.alternet.org/maternity-death-rates-are-very-high-us-congress-doesnt-seem-care



The U.S. ranks a shocking 60 out of 180 countries when it comes to maternity death rates, according to The Lancet, a weekly medical journal. America is one of only eight countries in the world to see an increase in its maternal mortality rate over the past decade; Greece, Afghanistan and several nations in Africa and South America round out the other seven. In 2013, 18.5 mothers died for every 100,000 births in the U.S—a total of nearly 800 deaths. Nationwide, black American women are four times as likely to die during childbirth than white women, according to Amnesty International.

As alarming as these figures are, Congress has been slow to act. U.S. Representative John Conyers (D-Mich) is sponsoring H.R. 4216: the Maternal Health Accountability Act of 2014. Conyers told AlterNet that the bill will require all states to mandate health professionals and facilities to report pregnancy-related deaths, investigate and develop case findings and summaries for each occurrence, establish review committees with ob-gyns, nurses, social workers, healthcare facility representatives and other relevant stakeholders to recommend prevention strategies, disseminate findings and recommendations, among other steps.

"This bill will help address this unacceptable racial disparity by helping to address a range of barriers to safe pregnancies ranging from health complications to financial needs," said Conyers, whose district includes Detroit. "The bill will promote accountability and shared responsibility between states, the federal government, and healthcare providers to identify opportunities for improvement of care and means to educate health professionals, women and families about preventing pregnancy-related deaths and complications."

According to govtrack.us, the bill has only 25 co-sponsors and a 1 percent chance of passing. There's not much hope at the state level either; most states don't even track pregnancy-related deaths.

[SunSeeker]

1. K & R for exposure. nt

[Arkansas Granny]

2. Our infant mortality rate is high, also.

http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/3237776

You'd think the "pro-life" contingent would be all over this, but they haven't figured out how to use it as a political took.

[Sherman A1]

4. Precisely

I am sure they will get to it as soon as they are done with more votes to repeal the ACA.

[TexasMommaWithAHat]

9. Those statistics are dubious, at best

I know I've read rebuttals to those statistics before on DU (long time lurker).

On June 7, a fetus is expelled at 23 weeks pregnancy. It dies a few hours later.

Did the mother have a miscarriage, or did she give birth to a live baby that died?

In some countries, it's a miscarriage. In some countries, it's a live birth. Just this one discrepancy in record keeping accounts for a huge variance in those statistics.

[Arkansas Granny]

10. Do you have a link for your info?

[TexasMommaWithAHat]

13. It's hard to find links

It's hard to find links since the pro universal healthcare crowd (me! me! me!) has nothing to gain by examining the statistics, while the anti-universal healthcare crowd does.


One thing to notice at this link is the definition of [bInfant death: Death of an infant before his or her first birthday. This is all deaths of all children who die before the first year of age. This include babies who are abused to death. I wonder how we stack up for child abuse.

That is a link above.

[lovuian]

12. It has to do with Insurances for profit

Babies are dying of jaundice much more now than 25 years ago
WHY
because they leave the hospital too soon

same for mothers .....the Insurance companies make stays to short and then there is the poverty issue where women get no support

It is a very sad story for America

[LiberalAndProud]

14. How do you know?

"Babies are dying of jaundice much more now that 25 years ago"
I am in the process of trying to find statistical studies to verify this claim, but I keep getting sidetracked with interesting articles. Like this one:

Separating Fact from Fiction in the Not-So-Normal Newborn Nursery: Newborn Jaundice

Fortunately for the millions of infants who develop jaundice every year, in the vast majority it is a self-limited process and often considered to be just a normal part of the first few days of life. But in a significant minority of them, careful management is required in order to prevent complications. Some infants need treatment to prevent neurological symptoms from developing, and to reverse them when they do occur. And in a very small percentage of babies who develop severe jaundice, permanent brain damage and even death can occur.

Even so,how can we be certain that the reason is "because they leave the hospital too soon"?

With proper follow-up care, a new mother need not stay in the hospital. I was glad to leave.

[IronLionZion]

3. I'm sure the pro-life crowd will be on it real soon

[Jerry442]

5. Look for O'Reilly and Hannity to make this their #1 topic.

Yeah.

[woo me with science]

6. K&R

[ladjf]

7. It's all about the interests of the 1% . nt

[bettyellen]

8. kick

[edhopper]

11. So stopping Medicade expansion

is working pretty well.
Less of those minority Dem voters and future voters.