American hospitals have a long way to go

Keeping in mind today is International Women's Day ..... these numbers are absolutely appalling and so is the data backing them up.

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Even though pregnancy and childbirth is the No. 2 reason for hospitalization in the United States, the federal government allows hospitals to keep their childbirth complication rates private. USA TODAY’s analysis marks the first time rates for hundreds of hospitals are easily available.

Childbirth complication rates at most hospitals were less than 1.5 percent. But at a small group – about one out of eight hospitals studied – women experienced potentially deadly deliveries at least twice as often as at the typical hospital.

Those 120 hospitals come in all types, sizes and locations – from New York City to the hills of Kentucky to the California desert. While many deal with patients who show up at the hospital with challenging medical conditions, the outliers defy categorization, serving every imaginable mix of patients.

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But the list also includes community hospitals in cities, suburbs and small towns where many routine births typically occur.

What's more, at the 120 hospitals with the highest severe complication rates, it wasn’t only poor women or black women who experienced life-threatening deliveries more often.

Compare the outcomes for white women, and the same hospitals jump out. White mothers at the outlier hospitals were three times as likely to experience potentially fatal complications. The complication rates also were higher for mothers with health insurance.

******Safety advocates said that without public access to data, it has been too easy for hospitals to excuse poor outcomes by blaming mothers’ health problems. ****** [Always blame the woman!!!]

More: https://amp.usatoday.com/amp/2953224002