“I went in with an open mind. I didn’t have a lot of fears,” Jenkins said. “I didn’t think that would happen at all.”
Local data show that while hospital improvements have stemmed some deaths, a large share of deaths among new parents occur in the weeks and months after giving birth, when medical attention has shifted to the newborn. In Philadelphia, where the maternal mortality rate exceeds the national average, more than half of the 110 pregnancy-associated deaths between 2013 and 2018 occurred at least six weeks after birth.
Hospitals working with the Joint Commission, the largest hospital-accrediting organization, must evaluate a patient for risk of excessive blood loss, or hemorrhage, if they’ve received at least four pints of blood, and retrain staff on measuring blood pressure to detect signs of pre-eclampsia. But Philadelphia has found success with similar hemorrhage prevention protocol. About 7% of pregnancy-related deaths in Philadelphia were due to hemorrhage between 2013 and 2018, according to the most recent report from Philadelphia’s maternal mortality committee.Hypertension is a major contributor to maternal deaths, especially for Black women, Rutgers finds
About a quarter of pregnancy-related deaths in Philadelphia between 2013 and 2018 occurred between six weeks and a year after birth, according to the city’s maternal mortality review committee report.For too many Black women, pregnancy is fatal. Temple thinks these birth workers could help. She has found that connecting patients with others at a similar stage of pregnancy is another way doctors can garner trust with their patients.