United States named 'most dangerous' developed country for women to give birth
The United States is the "most dangerous" developed country for women to give birth, a latest investigation by USA Today has found out.
The report titled "Deadly Deliveries", which was released on Thursday found out that the US has the highest rate of maternal deaths in the developed world. The report stated that more than 50,000 mothers in the US are severely injured in the country during childbirth every year. The probe also found out that nearly 700 mothers in America die during or after childbirth per year, according to reports.
The investigation, which was authored by the USA Today reporter Alison Young, in an interview with CBS This Morning, on Thursday, said, "Experts say that about 50 percent of the deaths of women from childbirth-related causes could be prevented if they were given better medical care and that's a really surprising thing given that we're one of the wealthiest countries in the world and we spend so much on medical care."
"We're not just talking about the women who die, we're talking about 50,000 US women who are suffering life-altering harms," Young added.
In an effort to reach her findings, Young — during her four-year probe — visited multiple maternity wards in the country's hospitals and found an unusually high number of cases where families lost women because of childbirth.
A woman, in one of the examples given in the probe, reportedly experienced internal bleeding after she delivered a baby through C-section. Reports state that the woman nearly bled to death because of the number of hours it took medical staff to realize that she had an internal bleeding and required a hysterectomy.
The family later filed a lawsuit against the Knox Community Hospital in Ohio and settled the case outside of the court, according to reports.
The report also stated hemorrhaging and severe hypertension as two leading causes of childbirth deaths. "These things have been known for many years as things that need to be done but it needs to be made a priority at hospitals," Young said.
"One of the things that are being advocated for by groups like the AIM group [Alliance for Innovation on Maternal Health Programs] is having checklists," she added.