Why do so many moms die and suffer in the US? Stupid negligence

Enlarge / Pregnant woman in a delivery room having her blood pressure monitored. (credit: Getty | BSIP)

The US has a shameful record when it comes to caring for its moms. As Ars has reported before, the rate of women dying during pregnancy or childbirth is higher-much higher-than in any other developed country. By some estimates, mothers die in the US at a rate six-times that seen in Italy and three-times the rate in the UK, for instance. And of those that survive, tens of thousands suffer devastating injuries and near-death experiences each year.

It's hard to compare such stats with precision, of course, because official numbers don't exist in this country. US hospitals either won't reveal or don't determine rates of maternal complications, and the country as a whole simply doesn't monitor the deaths consistently or accurately. The US hasn't reported an official maternal death rate since 2007-a situation health experts have called an "international embarrassment."

Nevertheless, health researchers, hospital organizations, policy makers, and state task forces have been working to understand and reverse the horrific numbers-often doing so with limited resources and reliance on volunteers. While reports have offered glimpses of the problem, a new investigation by USA Today provides one of the sharpest pictures yet.

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