Monday, April 25, 2011

Sunday's Letter to the Editor

Thank you to the Sarasota Herald-Tribune for printing my letter on Easter Sunday. I am hopeful that many readers will take action.

Regarding pediatrician Sean Palfrey's column "How patients can help doctors practice better, less costly medicine":

No discipline best illustrates the American medical trend of over-intervention than maternity care.

Despite spending more on maternity care than any other nation (about $98 billion annually), the U.S. ranks an abysmal 50th in maternal mortality, the World Health Organization reports.

Why are two to three American women dying of pregnancy- or childbirth-related causes every day? Because their care falls on one extreme or the other of appropriate. Many women are not receiving prenatal or postpartum care at all. On the spectrum's other end, many are receiving dangerous intervention that exceeds what is medically necessary for a healthy birth outcome.

What can we do? To start, we can adequately count the women who are dying, and discern their causes of death. Florida is one of only 21 states that has a check box on a woman's death certificate to note whether she was pregnant or recently pregnant when she died. The Maternal Health Accountability Act of 2011 aims to change that, making a nationwide data collecting system that establishes maternal death review boards in all states. I strongly urge you to contact your elected officials and convey your support of this bill.

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

SRQ Daily: Every Child Needs a Mother

Many thanks to SRQ Magazine for running the following guest column in today's SRQ Daily.

I type from an airplane somewhere between DCA and SRQ, my heartbeat quickening as I anticipate a joyous reunion with my husband and children. Yet for far too many American families, joy is replaced with grief, reunion replaced with loneliness. Saturday’s Healthy Mothers Healthy Birth Summit at Shenandoah University addressed the silent epidemic of maternal mortality in the United States.

Americans spend more on maternity care than any other nation in the world (approximately $98 billion annually), yet World Health Organization data shows 49 countries losing fewer mothers than we do. Some names might not surprise you—Sweden, the Netherlands, Germany, the U.K. But how about Slovenia, Bosnia, Kuwait and Bahrain?

Amnesty International researcher Nan Strauss presented the group’s report "Deadly Delivery: The Maternal Healthcare Crisis in the USA." Amnesty concludes that at least half of American maternal deaths are preventable, resulting from lack of prenatal/postpartum care, or from overuse of intervention such as labor induction or Cesarean section. "We have the research. We have the answers," said Strauss. "We're just waiting for the political will."

Florida midwife Jennie Joseph agrees. Her answer? The Midwives Model of Care, empowering the mother through knowledge and support, minimizing interventions and referring women who require obstetrical attention. The Summit’s experts recommend the midwifery model as the standard for low-risk, normal births.

Renowned midwife Ina May Gaskin then presented her Safe Motherhood Quilt Project (www.rememberthemothers.org). The quilt honors American women who have died of pregnancy or childbirth related causes since 1982.

So what can we do? We can begin by accurately counting and discerning the causes of our maternal deaths. The Maternal Health Accountability Act of 2011 (H.R. 894) would mandate a national data collection system, and establish maternal death review boards in every state. I encourage anyone who is concerned about this crisis to contact your representatives and urge their endorsement of this bill.

Every child needs a mother. I can't wait to get off this plane and show my babies how grateful I am to be theirs.

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Nations with Lower Maternal Mortality Rates than the U.S.

Australia
Austria
Bahrain
Belarus
Belgium
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Brunei Darussalam
Bulgaria
Canada
Croatia
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Denmark
Estonia
Finland
France
Germany
Greece
Grenada
Iceland
Ireland
Israel
Italy
Japan
Kuwait
Latvia
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Malta
Marshall Islands
Montenegro
Netherlands
New Zealand
Niue
Norway
Oman
Poland
Portugal
Puerto Rico
Qatar
Republic of Korea
Serbia
Singapore
Slovakia
Slovenia
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia
Turkey
United Arab Emirates
United Kingdom
(current data from the World Health Organization, http://apps.who.int/ghodata/?vid=250#)