The United States now is the most dangerous place in the developed world to give birth. More than 50,000 mothers suffer severe injuries or death after childbirth. According to a USA Today investigation, medical professionals could have prevented over half of these deaths with better care. Most facilities do not intervene quickly enough to save mother or child.
About the Investigation
USA TODAY uncovered more than a half-million pages of internal hospital quality records. These pages revealed nearly 200 cases of horrible delivery complications due to negligence. Widespread failure to protect women and their babies happened across the country. The most common failures were not treating for high blood pressure and not acting quickly enough to save mothers and their babies.
These issues happened at big hospitals and small tiny community delivery units. It also happens in doctors’ offices when they miss or fail to act on signs of serious complications during pregnancy and after delivery.
Nations across the world are experiencing lower death injury rates than the U.S. Whereas, American maternal deaths climb. However, Califonia has implemented a system of safety practices endorsed by top medical societies to reduce maternal death and injury rates. Therefore, state maternal death has fallen by half.
Agencies Don’t Care About Maternal Deaths
Despite the success of California safety measures, the rest of the country has been slow to implement them. This is largely due to Medicare and Medicaid Services lack of protection. These agencies are more aggressive to improve elderly care than babies and new mothers. Medicare requires hospitals to report complications related to hip and knee surgeries. However, it does not require hospitals to track or report childbirth complications. The Joint Commission, a private accreditation group that sets safety standards for thousands of hospitals, requires hospitals to track c-sections, but not when healthcare providers fail to follow safety guidelines to protect mothers against childbirth complications.
Common Causes of Maternal Deaths
The top two complications mothers experience during childbirth are hypertension (high blood pressure) and hemorrhaging (extreme blood loss). Almost 60% of deaths caused by hypertension, blood pressure over 160/110, and 90% of deaths caused by hemorrhaging could have been prevented if action was taken earlier.
The actions to prevent these injuries and deaths include administering medications earlier. Also, medical professionals should accurately measure blood loss during and after delivery. It is protocol for women with high blood pressure to receive treatment within 60 minutes. However, only 31 hospitals out of the thousands from the investigation follow this protocol. Also, only 9 said staff tracks how often doctors and nurses actually give treatment in time.
This happened to a 24-year-old new mother needing an emergency hysterectomy following hours of internal bleeding that went unnoticed after she gave birth to her son. Her blood pressure dropped as low as 52/26. This is a medical sign that someone is losing life-threatening amounts of blood. However, no healthcare provider took action. Yet, help is still available.
Seek Help from a Complex Litigation Attorney
Therefore, it is important to remember that if your child’s birth injuries are a result of medical negligence and carelessness, the medical staff, hospital, and/or physician may be liable for damages. A complex litigation attorney can help. At The Michael Brady Lynch Firm, our lawyers have decades of experience helping injured people get justice and full compensation for injuries caused negligence. The Michel Brady Lynch Firm regularly takes on the largest corporations in the world with a track record of proven success. Contact The Michael Brady Lynch Firm today, and our attorneys will review your case for free and help you protect your rights. For your complimentary consultation, call our office now.