Childbirth Injuries Rates Drop, Infant Mortality Still High

Saturday June 27, 2009

The good news in this report is that if you gave birth between 2000 and 2006, vaginally without the use of forceps or a vacuum, then your rates of injury fell by 30%. The rates also fell in the same period for women who gave birth by c-section or with vacuum extraction or forceps, these rates fell by 20%. This data was collected by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) and published in its report, Potentially Avoidable Injuries to Mothers and Newborns During Childbirth, 2006. One thing I am pleased to see is that this report included women who were uninsured, something that does not always happen.

There are disparities in birth. I don't think that this is a shock to anyone. But these disparities can be life threatening to mothers and babies and many are based on the color of skin or the income level of the families involved. For example, a baby who was born in a rural area, or was Caucasian, or had Medicaid as their insurance where more like be injured in birth.

Perhaps some of the injuries come from over medicalization of birth for groups with more insurance or private physicians. One thing I don't see here is whether or not midwifery care was included in this study. If the information is taken from birth certificate data or simple databases, it might also be difficult to tell if midwives were involved because they often bill under the doctor's name or the practice name. And this wouldn't even begin to talk about using a homebirth midwife. There are also many studies showing that midwifery care can level out some of this disparity.

Jennie Joseph, a Certified Professional Midwife in Florida, is taking part in a new film called Reducing Infant Mortality and has recently been in Washington, D.C. to talk about improving outcomes for all babies and mothers. The goal is to reduce infant mortality in the United States, which is currently ranked 42nd in world in this grim statistic.

For now, what you can do is to select your care provider and place of birth wisely. Select the specific prenatal tests and procedures that you specifically need, as opposed to one that everyone gets. Do your part and take care of yourself. Eat well. Exercise. Keep your prenatal appointments. Be your baby's best advocate.

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