This past Wednesday, ABC News reported on the the "spike" in maternal deaths in the United States over the past several years with due shock.
The news report stresses how shocking it is to hear that so many women die of complications in childbirth when we live in the United States of America. How could this be? They wonder. How could be be ranked so far below Greece, The Czech Republic, and Japan? How could this be happening in our country?
The U.S., in fact, ranks 33rd out of 33 industrialized countries in maternal deaths per year. Our infant outcomes aren't much better, either.
Coverage of this issue at all is commendable, and it is amazing that no news source has been steadily doing so as the numbers keep rising.
The inexpensive bands to prevent blood clots in recovering women was mentioned, as was their effectiveness and inexpensive price tag, which is a great start in saving many lives. Mentioning the rise in risk factors for pregnant women including obesity is also an important point to make in addressing this issue as well. Additionally, the report encouraged more open channels of communication between doctor and patient as being a cost-effective and meaningful change that all hospitals could enact to reduce the number of maternal deaths.
But there are still a few changes or additions that would be beneficial to see in future reporting to further drive home the message.
The viewers of this report would have benefited from hearing more information on why the rising rate of cesarean sections, and "elective" and repeat cesareans in particular, are contributing factors in maternal deaths. Infection and possible internal bleeding are mentioned, but the vague "other complications" did little to inform expectant mothers. Perhaps a second reporting on this issue in particular would be beneficial, or even one additional note of encouraging pregnant women to research these issues and discuss them with their care providers would have lent an added bit of strength to the video on a whole. Same comments apply to the very brief mention of inductions as "risk factors", without going into detail on why that is so.
There is one key factor in this trend that was not adequately mentioned in this report and that is the role women and families have in educating themselves of the complications associated with "operative", induced, or technological births. That is, births that are induced by way of artificial oxytocin, cervical ripening agents, or artificially ruptured membranes (AROM), those delivered via cesarean section, forceps, or vacuum, and are otherwise "medical events" where numerous drugs, monitors, and other interventions are used as routine instead of as indicated.
Education and more effective and open channels of communication can go a long way in improving the national statistics for maternal deaths by enabling more women to take their births into their own hands by making more informed decisions.
A woman and her birth team (husband, mother, doula, boyfriend, partner, etc.) can benefit a great deal from doing even a little research into how these procedures effect birth outcomes. Childbirth education classes, specifically those conducted outside of the hospital where standards as well as alternatives are discussed, are incredibly effective tools for education and typically only take a handful of hours for a few weeks at the end of pregnancy.
There are options and alternatives that can help give mothers and babies a better birth and they're more easily reached than it might seem. Think of the blood clot bands the report mentioned--What a simple change that makes a huge difference. There are many more such changes that can be made by the mother that cost nothing but a little bit of time and research.
Pregnancy is not a pathology which needs to be treated and has a high chance of fatality, it is a normal process which should end in a healthy mother and baby. Having ninety-five women die in a year in one state alone is far too many and frequent reports should be issued till there is some marked change. Ms. Snow's research and her strong wording when discussing this issue should echo in future coverage of this issue by ABC and hopefully the other news channels who will pick up on this horrifying trend.
For this country to see improvements, women must be advocates for themselves, and the idea that because we are living in the United States this can't happen to "Us", needs to be wiped from our minds. Doctors, mothers, and families can learn a lot from looking to the practices in those other thirty-two countries, including providing care for vaginal births after cesareans (VBACs), reducing the rate of inductions and epidurals, and increasing the number of women who have midwives attend their births, either at home or in the hospital. This is what is called "evidence based practice" and the U.S. could go a long way in implementing that into our standard birth practices.
Thank you to ABC for reporting on this issue, and hopefully there will be more programs addressing this issue till there is change.
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