Medical Malpractice Lawyers

The Alarming Trends of Birth Injuries in Cleveland and the USA

What’s the most dangerous place to give birth in the developed world? It’s an answer that will surprise anyone who isn’t a Cleveland birth injury attorney because the most dangerous place to give birth in the developed world is the United States.

In fact, more than 50,000 mothers suffer severe injuries during or after childbirth and 700 of those moms die. Most disturbing, at least half the deaths could have been prevented, and half the injuries reduced or prevented with better care, according to a USA TODAY Investigation.

The USA Compared to the Developed World

In most developed countries like Germany, Japan, and France, birth injury and maternal death is on the decline. In the USA, however, the number continues to climb. In 2015, it was 26.4 per 100,000 births – the highest in the developed world.

There was only one state that had the exception: California. By implementing birth safety measures that are the norm in most of the developed world, California managed to halve its maternal death rate.

“Many hospitals across the country conceded in interviews with USA TODAY that they were not taking safety steps such as quantifying women’s blood loss or tracking whether moms with dangerously high blood pressure got proper medication in time,” USA TODAY reported.

“Countries around the world have reduced maternal deaths and injuries by aggressively monitoring care and learning from mistakes,” the report emphasized. “The result has been two decades of steady or reduced maternal harms in the rest of the developed world – as U.S. rates climbed.”

Those are trends that might keep a birth injury attorneys in Cleveland busy filing cases, but they spell terrible news for U.S. mothers, families and children.