A Nation, a State, and Healthcare Failed a Young Woman

I am dusting off an old commentary (A Woman’s Right to Safe Healthcare Outcomes) from 2019 after reading about a young woman who died after visiting three different emergency rooms. Everyone delayed. Everyone thought of their liability. And every one watched her slowly die as they made their decision.

Healthcare for women and maternal mortality is an important indicator of a nation’s overall quality of healthcare.

Even though maternal mortality worldwide dropped 44% between 1990 and 2015; 830 women die every day from causes related to pregnancy and while giving birth of which much is preventable. 99% of all those maternal deaths occur in developing countries. WHO has launched an initiative to meet the needs of women in developing countries by addressing access to and the quality of reproductive, maternal, and newborn healthcare services. Everyone would agree the effort is necessary in developing countries.

One would think the maternal rate of death in a highly developed nation such as the US would be lower when compared to other and similar nations. Why not? With the advent of the PPACA, many preventative healthcare measures were put in place for women and Medicaid was expanded in many states. US citizens spend far more for healthcare and have greater or similar access to healthcare. And yet every year in the U.S, 700 to 900 women die from pregnancy, or birth-related causes, and an approximate 65,000 almost die due to complications. Contrary to what healthcare should be, the US ranks low in providing maternal healthcare in the developed world.

But we are faced with a different dilemma in which government decides when and where a woman gets care and if she deserves it when it comes to a failed pregnancy. This is far worse than what I wrote about in 2019.

A doctor then missed all the signs of a disorder called HELLP syndrome or Hemolysis, (a breakdown of red blood cells).

It was not till her doctor husband reached out to another doctor. He anxiously relayed the symptoms, and another doctor (female) quickly diagnosed what the young mother was suffering from . . . a disorder called HELLP syndrome or Hemolysis, (a breakdown of red blood cells); Elevated Liver enzymes; and Low Platelet count. A disorder if not treated quickly leads to death. The doctor emphasized the need for a quick response to the symptoms told to her. He was too late.

We are going through a period of time where conservative beliefs are dictating the rights of women to receive healthcare in emergencies and otherwise. This is occurring in many states and we have a president and legislature dictating what are the rights for women and their bodies. Other states are more open to the needs of women.

Nevaeh Crain Died During a Miscarriage After Trying to Get Care in Texas Hospitals, ProPublica

“Nevaeh Crain was crying in pain, too weak to walk, blood staining her thighs. Feverish and vomiting the day of her baby shower, the 18-year-old had gone to two different emergency rooms within 12 hours, returning home each time worse than before.

The first hospital diagnosed her with strep throat without investigating her sharp abdominal cramps. At the second, she screened positive for sepsis, a life-threatening and fast-moving reaction to an infection, medical records show. But doctors said her six-month fetus had a heartbeat and that Crain was fine to leave.

Now on Crain’s third hospital visit, an obstetrician insisted on two ultrasounds to “confirm fetal demise,” a nurse wrote, before moving her to intensive care.

By then, more than two hours after her arrival, Crain’s blood pressure had plummeted and a nurse had noted that her lips were “blue and dusky.” Her organs began failing.

Hours later and before care, she was dead.”

It is bad enough when women die in childbirth due to mistakes such as Lauren Bloomstein did and I described in the beginning. Doctors missed all the signs of a disorder called HELLP syndrome or Hemolysis. Is it understandable when a doctor looks on and waits for the worst to happen before he can treat the woman?

Nevaeh Crain did not have to die due to a lack of help. There is enough that happens in the US with giving birth which makes the US one of the worst places to have baby as detailed further in my old commentary. How do you walk away after that happens?