I'm alarmed! I live in California!

I was shocked at first when I read the headline.... but after factoring in obesity and blood pressure and (type 2?) diabetes, I'm not too shocked. Americans have so much to be grateful for, but too many of us just gorge ourselves on it and don't think twice. That being said, a preventable death is a preventable death, and I certainly hope these women and doctors are successful in working together to reduce this death rate.

I'm not really surprised. I gave birth in Orange County and the nursing staff nearly killed me and my dear son. Literally. I don't even think the OB still delivers at that hospital because of what they did to me, including lie to him about my progression over the phone when he called to check in. Beware. Stay at home.

I think any time you have "elective inductions without medical reason" there a cause for concern, especially when it's contributing to the death rate. Doctors who perform inductions without medical cause should have their license stripped. Same goes for those who do c-sections because mom doesn't want to stretch out her vagina.

I completely agree with you anon #4! These are things that really need to be looked into better and doctors and others need to STOP telling women that elective inductions and elective c-sections are "safe" or "just as safe" as a natural labour and delivery!

I think that one preventable deaths is too many. And having women die or suffer consequences (or have the baby suffer consequences) for actions such as elective induction or unnecessary C-section is a very sad fact. When used correctly, the technology we have can save lives. When applied where it doesn't need to be applied, it can have serious consequences. We should not be having a higher mortality rate BECAUSE of our medical prowess--it should be lower. Very sad.

I agree anon #4. I let natural run its course. No elective birthing from me. It's sad, though.

In general those 4 causes have a lot more to do with the mother and her habits than the hospital.

#3, emily s.: where in oc did you give birth? what hospital, in what city? i live in oc and have a pregnant sister in law.

Whoa ... "elective induction without medical reason was also mentioned." The report does NOT say that 95 women died because of "elective birthing."

Is the report shocking? Yes. Is it shameful? Yes.

But this is about women and children receiving substandard health care in a wealthy nation, not an invitation for women to judge each other.

High blood pressure and diabetes during pregnancy are not ALWAYS due to bad choices by the mother. I developed pre-eclampsia, and I was in good health prior to being pregnant and ate healthy throughout my pregnancy. I also gained nearly 70 pounds, but I wasn't overeating and I was sick EVERY DAY! I never kept my dinner down!

So before jumping to conclusions about these issues, pleaes get educated. Some of these issues happen to the healthiest of people, and doctors have no idea why.

"But this is about women and children receiving substandard health care in a wealthy nation, not an invitation for women to judge each other."

Only one comment has anything even close to judging a woman, and even that is a true statement. Many times these are a result of a woman's habits. Things like hypertension are not ALWAYS caused by bad habits, and no one said they were. Just that it can have to do with mom's habits.

Beyond that, I'm judging the doctor for allowing a non-medically indicated induction or c-section, not the woman. No one said that the deaths were solely caused by those elective procedures. It's disturbing that they happen at all, much less that they contribute to patient death.

Most of these comments deal with hospital births but perhaps they also reflect the rise in the number of at home/non-hospital births? I'm not saying that there arent' plenty of home births that are sucessful & rewarding but there are increased risks as well, just as there are increased risks (not the same risks) when a C-section is elected.
A recent news article spoke about the rise of infant deaths due to co-sleeping/smothering. As a society in general, we've started to vear away from medical practices (hospital births, sleeping in cribs) for more personal notions (home births & co-sleeping). It sounds great in theory but I think that people in general have forgotten in reason they were established in the first place.

Much like induction and c-section, home birth should be evaluated according to medical status. And also like induction and c-section, the attending medical professionals need to be qualified. There is a rising trend in unattended births or midwives who will keep a patient at home even when problems arise, and those are comparable to inductions and c-sections that aren't medically indicated.

Yes, home birth and attendants should be thoroughly researched if that is the choice a woman is making. However, this article cited nothing about home birth or home-birth related statistics. As a very well-researched home-birther, I would love to see your stats for making assumptions or guesses as to how that might be affecting the numbers from this study or where you're hearing of a trend in midwives keeping patients at home. Certified midwives are trained specifically to note any sign of complication and to transfer at those signs, or at the mother's urging, or even suggest transfer if the mother seems tired and stressed in a way that an epidural might help. I cannot speak to unassisted home birth, but that is a completely separate issue from a planned home birth with a certified midwife and should not be lumped together any more than an unplanned birth in the back of a car on the way to the hospital should.

The comments that have been made previously were in regards to what this post (and the cited article) explicitly stated--not on personal thoughts of what might have added to these numbers. If you have actual researched articles (from respected journals, not internet sites or simple editorials) that show how planned home birth with a certified midwife in any way increased risks of any kind, I'd be interested to see it, as every major study that has been done on this kind of home birth has found that the outcomes are usually better for both maternal and infant mortality, as well as avoiding complications and major surgery.

I don't think that this article necessarily condemns hospitals, but simply points to the fact that using certain procedures when unnecessary can result in negative outcomes for women. That's not the only factor, but the article itself cites that as a cause. Let's stick to what research shows and what the article states.

"Certified midwives are trained specifically to note any sign of complication and to transfer at those signs, or at the mother's urging, or even suggest transfer if the mother seems tired and stressed in a way that an epidural might help."

As are doctors, and get they still do elective inductions for no reason.

A simple google search gives thousands of links on home birth death statistics being on the rise. And yes, I agree it has nothing to do with this particular article, it was just mentioned by another poster.

I'm a strong supporter of well-researched home births, as well as well-researched hospitals births. I just think all medical personnel, midwives, doulas, and doctors, need to be more aware of what they're doing.