We note a sad and tragic point concerning American health care delivery in a recent Tabor Law blog post. We note specifically in our December 1 entry that “more American women die during childbirth or shortly thereafter than do their counterparts in any other developed country.”
How can that be the case? The country’s medical training and sophisticated care-delivery technologies are world-renowned.
We stress in the above-cited post that “doctors focused closely on that disconnect” have some clear arguments to explain it, along with recommendations for improving childbirth-linked outcomes for mothers in Indiana and nationally.
Those points are conveyed in a recent medical journal and passed along as tips to be acted upon in delivery rooms nationwide.
Here’s one takeaway: Delivery teams too often fail to timely prepare for and address a few commonly recurring problems. If they did, especially with a purposeful focus to “standardize the way they care for women in labor,” legions of maternal outcomes would be improved across the country.
The doctors’ research reported in the New England Journal of Medicine stresses that outcomes relating to delivery-linked bleeding, high blood pressure and clotting could be especially impacted by a change in philosophy. Research authors urge care teams to “check every single patient for these conditions, and use research-backed protocols to treat them.”
They also stress the need for a more proactive stance to be assumed by delivery teams during labor. “Don’t wait” is a mantra they urge upon providers, along with a directive for all the assorted players in a delivery room to consciously promote enhanced interaction and team communication.
We have noted in prior Tabor Law posts that no reasonable person expects unchecked perfection from medical professionals. Still, it is certainly reasonable to assume that the highly trained medical experts we justifiably rely upon go about their duties competently and pursuant to a recognized standard of care.
Negligence interferes with that, often producing outcomes that are tragic and even fatal. Victims and their families can pursue meaningful legal remedies to combat that. Questions or concerns regarding substandard health care can be addressed to attorneys at a proven medical malpractice law firm.
