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Another Maternal Death
- May 27, 2009 at 10:20 PM
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- Comments (8) Total Views (111) Everyone can see this journal post.
We need to realize that hospitals are not sanitary and safe as we would like to believe; there is a reason the German word for hospital means "sick house".
Woman Gives Birth, Later Dies From Bacterial Meningitis
Tuesday, May 26, 2009 12:30 PM
Updated: Tuesday, May 26, 2009 7:15 PM
The women arrived at Mary Rutan Hospital Thursday evening and both delivered healthy babies. By the next morning, the women started to become ill, 10TV's Tanisha Mallett reported.
"Sometime around mid-morning there were complications," said Mandy Goble, president and chief executive officer of Mary Rutan Hospital. "Headaches and a little bit of nausea developed, which is very common with spinal anesthesia."
Later in the day, the women were moved to Riverside Methodist Hospital in Columbus. Shortly before midnight, one of the women, Susan Simpson, 30, died.
Goble said her hospital immediately launched an investigation to determine what caused the infection.
"They came in about an hour apart; they were in separate rooms (and) as far as we know they did not know each other previous to the delivery," Goble said. "The only commonality that we have been able to determine is they each have a spinal anesthesia."
The other woman, whose name was not released, remained at the hospital on Tuesday. Her family and friends told 10TV News that she was in the hospital's intensive care unit, Mallett reported.
The women's babies were in good condition at Nationwide Children's Hospital.
The Ohio Department of Health told 10TV News that the Logan County Health Department was also involved in the investigation.
Watch 10TV News and refresh 10TV.com for additional information.
http://www.10tv.com/live/content/local/stories/2009/05/26/story_meningitis.html
Did you know...that the United States ranks behind at least 40 other nations in maternal mortality rates according to the World Health Organization. In 2005, the United States reported 15.1 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births, up from 7.5 per 100,000 in 1982.
Did you know...that black women in the United States have 4 times the risk of dying from childbirth or childbirth related complications. Hispanic women in the United States, similarly, are 1.6 times more likely than non-Hispanic white women to die from pregnancy-related causes.
Did you know...that the Centers for Disease Control estimated in 1998 that the US maternal death rate is actually 1.3 to three times that reported in vital statistics records because of underreporting of such deaths.
Did you know...that reporting of maternal deaths in the United States is done via an honor system. There are no statutes providing for penalties for misreporting or failing to report maternal deaths.
Did you know...that the Centers for Disease Control estimates that more than half of the reported maternal deaths in the United States could have been prevented by early diagnosis and treatment.
The Safe Motherhood Quilt Project is a national effort developed to draw public attention to the current maternal death rates, as well as to the gross underreporting of maternal deaths in the United States, and to honor those women who have died of pregnancy-related causes since 1982.
The Project is the vision of Ina May Gaskin, midwifery pioneer and author of Ina May's Guide to Childbirth and the classic Spiritual Midwifery, who has been instrumental in bringing this issue to the public light.
The Quilt
The quilt is made up of individually designed squares; each one devoted to a woman in the U.S. who has died of pregnancy-related causes since 1982. One quilt square is designed and dedicated to each mother's memory and may mention the date and place of death and the name of the woman. The Safe Motherhood Quilt is the voice for women who can no longer speak for themselves.
To be honored and remembered on The Safe Motherhood Quilt:
- The woman died as a result of a complication of pregnancy or birth
- The woman's death occurred since 1982
- The woman died within a calendar year after the end of her pregnancy (documented by an obituary, death certificate, relative's or witness' account).
Do you know of a woman's story you'd like to share? Get more information on how to prepare your quilt block and submit it for inclusion in the Safe Motherhood Quilt.
For More Information
The Safe Motherhood Quilt Project
149 Apple Orchard Lane
Summertown, TN 38483
InaMayGaskin@GMail.com
More here Remember the Mothers
Comments:
About a week after having my second child, I started have pains in my abdomin, long story short, the ER doctor told me that I developed an infection in my uterus, he also slipped up and told me the woman in the next room (who had also been out of the hospital a day or so after me) had the same infection, but worse because she was being admitted. And this was an Army hospital!!
Military hospitals are the worst! I used to be in the military.
An infection in your uterus from what? A retained placenta?
homebirths are not without death either...
homebirths are not without death either...
Yes, but it is an ignorant statement that homebirths are *less safe* than hospital births. Unfortunately we may never be able to prevent all maternal deaths in hospital OR home births. It is with risk...but so are many, many other things in life. Do I want to risk subjecting my unborn child or myself to deadly bacterial and disease infested hospitals when we are not sick??? Hell. No.
i made no allusion to homebirths being MORE dangerous.
Ugh. This is one of the reasons I refused intervention. Every puncture site leaves you vulnerable to infection. Poor babes. :( Hopefully we can start changing the maternal mortality rate along with the reporting system.
Meg,
But you are FAR less likely to develop a staph, mrsa or bacterial infections from giving birth in your home. Far less likely!!!
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Wow. First those poor babies died from dirty hospital utensils and now more than likely the same for these poor women too. =(