LA Times Article on rising Maternal Deaths

This article was in Sunday’s Paper.

Rising maternal mortality rate causes alarm, calls for action

Why the rise?

Increased cesarean rates:  Although many are done to save the life of a mother and her baby, perhaps half are elective, meaning the surgery is medically unnecessary.

1/2 cesareans are medically unnecessary.  That is a lot of unnecessary risks for moms and babies.

Inductions:  The induction or prompting of labor by medication, which is sometimes medically advisable but more often performed for the doctor’s or patient’s convenience, has climbed so steeply — it now occurs in 22% of births — that the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists felt compelled to advise its members last year to avoid inductions before 39 weeks’ gestation.

When labor is induced a week or so before the due date, the uterus may not be ready, leading to prolonged labor. After delivery, the exhausted muscle may not contract properly to stop bleeding. Blood can no longer clot and becomes the consistency of water.

I would like to add, whenever a mom is induced it is highly likely her uterus isn’t ready, otherwise her baby would be born on his own timetable.

Also I am shocked it is only 22% of moms get induced.  It seems like a lot more than that.

Electronic monitoring, Lu said, may have the unintended consequence of making the monitoring of women during labor so passive that they may be neglected, with warning signs missed.

I could see this.  Nurses are watching the monitors out at the nurses station and not actually with the mom for a good part of the birth. So they may miss warning signs of other problems.

So moms should choose care providers and birth locations with low cesarean rates and low induction rates as well.