Study shows that it is currently more dangerous to give birth in California than in Kuwait or Bosnia...

Although the number of deaths is relatively small — and pregnancy and birth are safe for the vast majority of women – it’s more dangerous to give birth in California than it is in Kuwait or Bosnia.

http://www.ourbodiesourblog.org/blog/2010/02/maternal-mortality-on-the-rise-in-california

The California task force isn't waiting to determine the ultimate cause of these deaths. It has started pilot projects to improve the way hospitals respond to hemorrhages, to better track women's medical conditions and to reduce inductions.

Dr. David Lagrew, meanwhile, thinks he may have arrived at an answer. In 2002, Lagrew, the medical director of the Women's Hospital at Saddleback Memorial Medical Center in Orange County, noticed that many women were having their labor induced before term without a medical reason. He knew that having an induction doubled the chances of a C-section.

So he set a rule: no elective inductions before 41 weeks of pregnancy, with only a few exceptions. As a result, Lagrew said, the operating room schedules opened up, and the hospital saw fewer babies admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit, fewer hemorrhages and fewer hysterectomies.

All this, however, came at a cost: The hospital had to take a cut in revenue for reducing the procedures it performed. Lagrew doubts that any hospital has increased its C-section rate in pursuit of profit, but he adds that the first hospitals to adopt controls on early elective inductions have been nonprofits.

On average, a C-section brings in twice the revenue of a vaginal birth. Today, the C-section is the single most common surgical procedure performed in the United States.

Although the state hasn't released the task force's report, the researchers and doctors involved forwarded data to the national Joint Commission, which issued incentives for hospitals to reduce inductions and fight what it called "the cesarean section epidemic."

"You don't have to be a public health whiz to know that we are facing a big problem here," said Bingham, the executive director of the task force.

Online resources: To read more about maternal mortality rates and pregnancy-related deaths, go to http://www.californiawatch.org/

Other related links: http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1971633,00.html
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1880665,00.html