Re: where the continued pregnancy endangers the life of the woman concerned

From: D. Ashley Hill (dahmd@cfl.rr.com)
Mon Mar 13 15:47:36 2006


At Mon, 13 Mar 2006, GA12L@aol.com wrote:

>Okay, let's play a game of number crunching. How many of you have had women
>under YOUR care (not someone you know but you) that have died when pregnant
>and what was the cause?

I noticed I'm about the only person who hasn't posted, so what the hell:

1. Massive systemic emboli from IV drug abuse during pregnancy.

2. Amniotic fluid embolism.

3. Two near-deaths, one from AFE, another from coding after a uterine rupture, another from sepsis.

4. Lots of fairly close calls from ruptured ectopic pregnancies airlifted in with 3 liters in the belly. For some reason *everyone* with an ectopic comes to Orlando for vacation.

As an aside, I worry when folks start hinting that pregnancy is "natural" and "women were made to have babies." Obviously both are technically true, but the maternal mortality ratio in many countries is dismal, and in industrialized countries it was not much better even 200 years ago. Something like 500,000 women die every YEAR as a result of a pregnancy-induced complication. We are very fortunate to practice with skills developed through good physician and midwife care, but it's not that way everywhere.

Ashley

--
D. Ashley Hill, MD
Associate Director
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology
Florida Hospital Family Practice Residency
 and Loch Haven Ob/Gyn Group
Orlando, Florida




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