Are U.S. women experiencing unnecessary risks in childbirth?
When you picture a place where women commonly end up dying in childbirth, do you think of some distant country where they give birth in their homes, far away from adequate medical care, or do you picture a modern hospital somewhere in the United States?
The sad reality is that new mothers are dying at an alarming rate in the U.S., and there’s not much being done to stop it. Hospitals and doctors know what to do — but they aren’t doing it.
Investigative reporters have uncovered some startling facts about maternal care in our country. The results of their four-year investigation indicate that around 700 American women die in childbirth every year — and another 50,000 are seriously injured. Our country is now the most dangerous in the developed world for expecting mothers.
Some of the incidents that have been uncovered are horrifying:
- An Ohio woman nearly bled to death following a C-section and ultimately required an emergency hysterectomy that would have otherwise been avoidable — if anybody had paid attention to the warning signs of her condition.
- A South Carolina mother died after doctors ignored her dangerously high blood pressure post-delivery and sent her home. She suffered a stroke in the hospital waiting room after sitting around for hours, hoping to be seen.
- A Texas woman suffered kidney failure — and now needs a transplant — because doctors didn’t measure her blood loss following a delivery. They just “eyeballed” it, instead.
The worst part is that experts say most of these deaths — 60 percent of those from preeclampsia and 93 percent of those that involve bleeding to death — are preventable. All hospitals have to do is follow the guidelines for maternal care that are already in place. California, for example, has adopted stricter protocols and cut its maternal death rate in half. However, the rest of the nation isn’t following suit.
Did you lose someone due to negligent or inadequate care during delivery? Were you injured? If so, it’s important to find out more about your right to compensation and justice.