USA Today investigators found roughly 50,000 women are severely injured every year during childbirth in the U.S., while 700 mothers die. However, hospitals nationwide routinely skip essential safety practices to prevent such tragic outcomes, the report states.
Data obtained by the publication from a 2015 study published in the journal The Lancet in 2016 indicated the U.S. maternal death rate rose sharply between 1990 and 2015, when rates in most other developed nations remained flat or dropped.
While Germany, France, Japan, Canada and the U.K. saw between 5 and 10 maternal deaths per 100,000 births between 1990 and 2015, the U.S. rate rose sharply to 26.4 deaths during the same period.
To access the full USA Today investigation, click here.
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