Trial lawyers focus heavily, and rightly, on fetal mortality rates. Birth-related injuries, injuries inflicted prior to birth, perinatal injuries and deaths among infants (whether SIDS, crib or otherwise) should be intolerable.
What we sometimes lose sight of is the other side of that blessed event – the Mother. And on that score, studies are confirming a problematic and worsening trend.
From the New York Times, a link and a quote,
US Maternal And Birth Related Deaths Are Rising
The United States already has a much higher maternal mortality rate than other developed countries, and the increase in deaths pushes the nation’s maternal mortality rate to 23.8 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2020 from 20.1 deaths in 2019. Maternal mortality rates in developed countries have in recent years ranged from fewer than two deaths per 100,000 live births in Norway and New Zealand to just below nine deaths per 100,000 live births in France and Canada.
And from the peer-reviewed journals,
Obstetrics and Gynecology: US Trends in Maternal Mortality
Rigorous studies carried out by the National Center for Health Statistics show that previously reported increases in maternal mortality rates in the United States were an artifact of changes in surveillance. The pregnancy checkbox, introduced in the revised 2003 death certificate and implemented by the states in a staggered manner, resulted in increased identification of maternal deaths and in reported maternal mortality rates.
