Too much and too little

The Amnesty International report Deadly Delivery, released last year, comes on the heels of an investigation in California that found that maternal deaths have tripled there in recent years. It also, not surprisingly, follows a maternal-mortality alert issued in January by the Joint Commission, a group that accredits hospitals and other medical organizations. That report noted that some of the most common errors included failure to control blood pressure in hypertensive women and failure to pay attention to vital signs after C-sections (which occur at a rate of over 32%); both highly preventable risk factors.

While all reports also point out the numerous barriers women face in accessing care, even among those who are insured or qualify for Medicaid, no one can argue that poverty is a major factor, but with the U.S. spending more money per women per pregnancy than any other nation, it's apparent that throwing money at the problem will not make it disappear. All women in the U.S. are put at a unique risk from the overuse of obstetrical intervention and barriers to access to more woman-centered, physiologic care provided by family-practice physicians and midwives, compounded with the lack of medical oversight of this intervention.

We are doing both too much, and too little.

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1971633,00.html#ixzz1tewkbCS7

NONA is around the corner!

NONA, the BFA thesis show for seniors at the Santa Fe University of Art and Design, opens in a little less than a week, on April 27, 2012.  Come see the installation of In Memory of Mothers from 5PM to 7 PM, as well as photography, painting, video art, and other installations.

Check out David Grey's fantastic invitations.

Healthy People 2010--did it happen?

In 1998, US federal agencies developed national health objectives – the Healthy People 2010 goals. These set a target of reducing maternal deaths to 4.3 per 100,000 live births by 2010.


Five states in America have currently met those goals. Hats off to Indiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, and Vermont!


However, in some areas ratios are significantly--staggeringly--higher: in Georgia it is 20.5; in Washington, DC, it is 34.9.

In New York City, the ratio for black women is 83.6 per 100,000 live births.

Morbidity and Mortality

Deadly Delivery found that little data is
available on maternal morbidity (complications),
despite its frequency. “Near misses,” complications so severe the
woman nearly dies, have increased by over
25% between 1998 and 2005.

Currently, nearly 30% of women experience
complications related to childbirth,
and this has not improved in recent years.

-Deadly Delivery, page 6

The Cost of Healthcare in America

The total amount spent on health care in the USA is greater than in any other country in the world.

Hospitalization related to pregnancy and childbirth costs some US$86 billion a year; the highest hospitalization costs of any area of medicine

 Women in the USA have a greater lifetime risk of dying of pregnancy-related
complications than women in 50 other countries.

The likelihood of a woman dying in childbirth in the USA is:

Five times greater than in Greece.

Four times greater than in Germany.

Three times greater than in Spain.

 As a woman, you are also more likely to die giving birth in the U.S. than in

Turkey

Brunei

Latvia

Oman

Bahrain

South Korea

Slovenia

 Puerto Rico

Luxembourg

Montenegro

Belarus

Croatia

New Zealand

Lithuania

Hungary

Bulgaria

Lithuania

Canada

Estonia

United Kingdom

Switzerland

United Arab Emirates

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Kiribati

Macedonia

Netherlands

Singapore

Serbia

Malta

Australia

France

Czech Republic

Finland

Israel

Norway

Portugal

Poland

Slovakia

Japan

Italy

Iceland

Denmark

Austria

Belgium

Sweden

…and Ireland 

Get the full list at http://www.indexmundi.com/g/r.aspx?v=2223

Deadly Delivery: The Maternal Healthcare Crisis in the U.S., a one year update

Deadly Delivery: The Maternal Health Care Crisis in the USA

 

One Year Update

On March 12, 2010, Amnesty International issued a report entitled Deadly Delivery: The Maternal Health Care Crisis in the USA, which documented that although the United States spends more on health care than any other country, it ranked 41st (at the time of publication) in terms of maternal death. As the report demonstrated, this is not just a matter of public health, but a human rights issue. Over half of these deaths are preventable, and the report clearly demonstrated many barriers women face in accessing high quality maternal care.

2010 has been a watershed year for maternal health issues, both globally and in the US. In 2010, new studies and data were released and new legislation and initiatives developed that promise to improve maternal health. Throughout 2010, Amnesty International has been campaigning to end preventable maternal deaths in the US and around the globe. Despite some progress, more work remains to be done in order to ensure that the work of the last year will have a lasting impact. This update will examine the developments and new data on maternal health in the United States, address the expected impact on maternal health and health care of some key provisions in health care reform, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which passed on 23 March 2010, and cover some of the progress and successes that have been accomplished during the last year. All data and developments cited in this update have been released in 2010 or 2011, except where indicated.

Download the updated version here.

Courtesy Amnesty International.

What kills women?

 Why are women in the U.S. dying in childbirth? 5 relatively simple causes account for 75% of deaths:

Embolism 20%
A blood clot that blocks an essential blood vessel, for example in the lungs

Hemorrhage 17%
Severe blood loss

Pre-eclampsia and eclampsia 16%
Disorders associated with excessively high blood pressure

Infection 13%

Cardiomyopathy 8%
Heart muscle disease