Transforming Tragedy Into Effective Maternal Mortality Prevention Efforts

Making her way to her baby’s crib at the end of naptime, a 29-year-old, first-time mother falls to the ground unconscious. She never recovers. Until that day, despite the exhaustion that inevitably accompanies life with a newborn, the young woman appeared to be recovering well from childbirth. Even though she’d battled hypertension throughout her pregnancy, after delivery, her blood pressure readings were normal and she was discharged. Her family is bewildered and distraught. It will be several confusing and agonizing weeks before they learn what took the life of this young, vibrant mother. While this may sound like the plot of a scripted medical drama, I’ve just described a real-life scenario. Each year in the United States, 700 women die during pregnancy, delivery, or soon after delivering, with causes ranging from cardiovascular conditions, to hemorrhage, to complications with anesthesia. Yet research shows that about half of those deaths may be preventable. A collaboration between the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) staff and colleagues at the CDC Foundation and the Association of Maternal and Child Health Programs (AMCHP) is taking steps to strengthen state and local maternal mortality prevention efforts. Maternal Mortality Review Committees In the circumstance I described above, the death certificate would probably list hypertension as the underlying cause of death. However, that death certificate wouldn’t have captured the intersection of facto...
Source: Health Affairs Blog - Category: Health Management Authors: Tags: Featured Public Health Quality CDC maternity care postpartum care Source Type: blogs