California, my home state, leads the nation in one very important statistic: it has the lowest maternal mortality rate of any state in the U.S. Between 2006 and 2013, the maternal mortality rate in California fell by 55%. That’s excellent news, and it is a credit to our medical system, which implemented best practices and launched a statewide effort to try and lower the maternal mortality rate. Well done, California!
Now for the bad news. The U.S. has one of the highest maternal mortality rates of any developed country. Overall, the U.S. maternal mortality rate increased from 2000 and 2014, at a time when other developed nations saw declining maternal mortality rates. This despite the fact that an estimated 60% of maternal deaths are preventable, according to the CDF Foundation. Every year, between 700-900 U.S. women die from pregnancy or issues related to childbirth. That means that 420-540 women are dying annually from treatable pregnancy- and childbirth-related complications.
Think about that. Between 420 and 540 babies annually are going home without their mothers, when those mothers would have survived with proper medical attention. That’s a national tragedy.
U.S. maternal mortality rates are not consistent among all racial and socioeconomic groups. For instance, maternal mortality is significantly more common among African-Americans and low-income women compared to other demographics.
Maternal health experts frequently attribute the high U.S. maternal mortality rate to issues including poverty, untreated chronic health conditions, and a lack of health care access in certain parts of the country. California faces all those issues as well, and it has managed to reduce its maternal mortality rate.
In 2006, medical officials founded the California Maternal Quality Care Collaborative, which analyzed data about every maternal death in the state over the last five years. Among other initiatives, the committee identified two well-known pregnancy- and childbirth-related conditions that offer the best chance for survival with proper treatment: hemorrhage (uncontrolled bleeding) and preeclampsia (pregnancy-induced high blood pressure). The committee estimated that most of the deaths attributed to these two complications could have been prevented with early identification and proper treatment. This includes measuring blood loss so that doctors and nurses can detect problematic bleeding.
Grey’s Anatomy watchers will remember Dr. Arizona Robbins’ obstetric crash carts. Those carts are real, and the first one was invented by Dr. David Lagrew of the California Maternal Quality Care Collaboration. The first obstetric hemorrhage cart was filled with all the things doctors might need to stop a woman from bleeding to death after childbirth.
While California surges ahead in protecting mothers during and after childbirth, the rest of the U.S. is falling further and further behind. American women deserve better than a medical system that fails them at one of the most important–and vulnerable–times in their lives. A free-market based medical care system would likely help to solve this problem.
