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posted by martyb on Friday August 03 2018, @09:58AM   Printer-friendly
from the think-of-the-children's...-mother dept.

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

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.

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.

Many of the pregnant women and mothers who suffer and die in this country do so from easily preventable, common complications—and hospitals know exactly what safety features and practices are needed to spare mothers' lives and suffering, they just aren't using them. Women are left to bleed to death because doctors don't bother monitoring blood loss. Women suffer strokes and seizures and even die because doctors and nurses fail to treat their high blood pressure in time. The bottom line is stunning, simple negligence.

[...] While high blood pressure is one of the top causes of maternal deaths and complications, experts estimate that up to 60 percent of hypertensive deaths are preventable.

Hemorrhaging is another common but easily treatable complication. Women can bleed to death in as little as five minutes during childbirth. Yet experts estimate that 90 percent of maternal deaths from extreme blood loss are preventable. Such strategies to avoid harms are simple things, like weighing bloody pads to monitor blood loss (not relying on inaccurate visual estimates), having medications and supplies to curb blood loss readily available in a mobile cart, and responding promptly to signs of trouble.

Such simple steps have been recommended by experts for years. But in interviews with USA Today, many hospitals admitted they weren't following guidelines.

To put the data in real terms, USA Todaytold the story of 24-year-old Ali Lowry, who bled internally for hours after delivering by Cesarean section in an Ohio hospital in 2013. Her blood pressure registered at alarmingly low levels—52/26, 57/25, 56/24, 59/27—for more than three hours before staff responded. By the time she was airlifted to another hospital for life-saving surgery, her heart had stopped and she needed a hysterectomy. She eventually settled a lawsuit with her doctor and the hospital, which denied wrongdoing.

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  • (Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Friday August 03 2018, @02:54PM (13 children)

    by JoeMerchant (3937) on Friday August 03 2018, @02:54PM (#716731)

    The OBs working that office overbooked their practice, 7/8 scheduled pre-natal care visits would run late, like 2 and even 4 hours late, for all patients. They weren't just busy, they were physically and mentally exhausted by the middle of every practice day. They skimped on our scheduled care visits: specifically, after the pre-eclampsia scare they told us to reschedule our visits to delete one because we had come in for the post-scare followup since, between the 4 of them they hadn't managed to return phone messages for 48 hours. The rescheduling led to a 10 day gap between visits when standard of care was 7 days between visits, and on day 8 we had to come in for emergency C-section, ICU, etc.

    No, they weren't specifically "out to get us" and put mom in the ICU. They were, however, maximizing their income and skimping on standard of care as a direct result - both in the scheduling and in their ability to effectively manage their patients' healthcare needs, and those factors did directly contribute to our emergency situation. If we had gotten any kind of office visit on day 7, the urine and BP tests would have clearly shown the pre-eclampsia before it presented as blindness. It didn't help that their office staff were basically human shields for them, painting their nails instead of answering incoming calls for healthcare related followups, scheduling, etc.

    When baby 2 was on the way I told mom: "you can go back to those bitches if you want, it's your body" (practice was 4 female OBs) "but I'm not setting foot in their offices again, if you go to them you go alone." We found a less popular OB who gave us much better care, never late for appointments, always mentally sharp when we were there, etc. Delivery 2 went 100% as planned, no events - until the post-birth blood test gave us a false positive for HIV on Friday afternoon, with no ability to confirm that it was a false until Monday - f'ing Texas law requires the test and requires informing the patient immediately, even though there's a massively high false positive rate. If you think about the heightened emotions surrounding the whole thing, I'm sure there's been more than one bad thing happen for no good reason as a result of that stupid law. MD's could surely have sat on those results for 72 hours until we got a confirmation.

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  • (Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Friday August 03 2018, @03:27PM (12 children)

    Sounds like someone running their business poorly then. Would be nice if it were easy to check things like quality of care and shop around.

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    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 03 2018, @03:41PM (7 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 03 2018, @03:41PM (#716759)

      You realize there isn't some magical aspect to private business that let's people shop around right? Large hospitals aren't required to rip people off and not display common pricing. That is an effect of private money grubbing assholes not government regulation.

      If you bring up ER mandates, well then that is just your typical FYGM attitude.

      • (Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Saturday August 04 2018, @01:53AM (6 children)

        by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Saturday August 04 2018, @01:53AM (#717073) Homepage Journal

        You realize that when competition is viable, there absolutely is a magical aspect that lets people shop around. Whoever provides the best service for the lowest cost gets the customers, so it behooves new entrants to do so.

        --
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        • (Score: 4, Informative) by ilPapa on Saturday August 04 2018, @03:28AM (5 children)

          by ilPapa (2366) on Saturday August 04 2018, @03:28AM (#717100) Journal

          You realize that when competition is viable, there absolutely is a magical aspect that lets people shop around.

          No. The whole "shopping for health care" is a myth. If your kid is diagnosed with leukemia, you're not going to be shopping to find the best price on treatment. When your aging parent is receiving end-of-life care, you are unlikely to try to negotiate with the hospital for a better price.

          There was a time when corporate profits were not part of the health care industry in the United States. When people talk about "going back to having good health care", they're thinking of that time. Anyone who's been alive since the 70s can tell you how the entire health care industry started going downhill when for-profit entities started taking over.

          At long last, we have to accept the data: universal, single-payer health care is the only system that works now. There are no exceptions.

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          • (Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Saturday August 04 2018, @04:16AM (4 children)

            by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Saturday August 04 2018, @04:16AM (#717114) Homepage Journal

            No. The whole "shopping for health care" is a myth. If your kid is diagnosed with leukemia, you're not going to be shopping to find the best price on treatment. When your aging parent is receiving end-of-life care, you are unlikely to try to negotiate with the hospital for a better price.

            Less than three miles from where I sit there is a cash-only urgent care clinic. It always has patient vehicles in front of it. It posts prices for its most common services on a menu in the lobby.

            And don't try to speak for me. You're extremely inept at it.

            At long last, we have to accept the data: universal, single-payer health care is the only system that works now. There are no exceptions.

            "A flaw was found with your system so you must abandon it in favor of this specific system that I like!"

            You're not an idiot. Stop arguing like one.

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            • (Score: 3, Touché) by ilPapa on Saturday August 04 2018, @05:05AM (3 children)

              by ilPapa (2366) on Saturday August 04 2018, @05:05AM (#717135) Journal

              Less than three miles from where I sit there is a cash-only urgent care clinic. It always has patient vehicles in front of it. It posts prices for its most common services on a menu in the lobby.

              Your urgent care center will not be able to treat your kid's leukemia or provide your aging parent's end-of-life care. It's for handing out antibiotics and stitching up little league accidents.

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              • (Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Saturday August 04 2018, @10:11PM (2 children)

                by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Saturday August 04 2018, @10:11PM (#717335) Homepage Journal

                Pay attention here, slappy. I am not proposing this as a solution to all healthcare issues the nation over. Or was that intentional strawmaning?

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                • (Score: 2) by ilPapa on Sunday August 05 2018, @03:36AM (1 child)

                  by ilPapa (2366) on Sunday August 05 2018, @03:36AM (#717423) Journal

                  Pay attention here, slappy. I am not proposing this as a solution to all healthcare issues the nation over.

                  So then why introduce the topic into a discussion of the health care system?

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    • (Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Friday August 03 2018, @05:14PM (3 children)

      by JoeMerchant (3937) on Friday August 03 2018, @05:14PM (#716805)

      IMO it was obvious from the 3rd office visit where we had to wait 3+ hours past our scheduled appointment time, but they were sooooo popular and highly recommended. They definitely were running their MEDICAL PRACTICE poorly, as a business they were going gangbusters.

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      • (Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Saturday August 04 2018, @01:54AM (2 children)

        by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Saturday August 04 2018, @01:54AM (#717074) Homepage Journal

        Don't see how. You'd think people would be word-of-mouth-ing them out of business, what with this Internet thing and all.

        --
        My rights don't end where your fear begins.
        • (Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Saturday August 04 2018, @03:00AM (1 child)

          by JoeMerchant (3937) on Saturday August 04 2018, @03:00AM (#717091)

          2001, not so much Yelping going on at the time. Also: if you recall Outback steakhouse and similar chains that would make you wait a minimum of 30 minutes for a table even when the place was empty, and 90+ minutes during normal dinner hours, if they're that much in demand they must be awesome, right? Had to get lucky just to get accepted by them, can't let it go after you've been honored like that. Fucking idiot psychology, and it works because.....

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