"The extent of the problem is massive," said Dr. Lucky Jain, who served as co-chair of the Stillbirth Working Group of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Council, which issued the report last week."All of my life, I have maintained that what I cannot measure, I cannot improve.
, and that those agencies, along with state health departments, hospitals and medical providers, had done a poor job of raising awareness about stillbirth risk and prevention. "Findings on factors associated with stillbirths will inform CDC's next steps, including further research and potential prevention efforts," the spokesperson said.
ProPublica found that in 2020, placental exams were performed or planned in only 65% of stillbirth cases and autopsies were conducted or planned in less than 20% of cases. The federal report identified several of the same barriers that ProPublica had spotlighted. A spokesperson for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services said autopsies are not covered because they do not fall"within the definition of medical assistance established by Congress."