Some maternal deaths after c-section preventable

[cougarnurse]

Thought this was interesting: MedlinePlus: Some maternal deaths after c-section preventable

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - In most instances when a woman dies in childbirth in the developed world, the death could not be prevented; however, deaths among women undergoing cesarean delivery could be reduced with treatment to prevent blood clots, according to a new report.
Dr. Steven L. Clark from Hospital Corporation of America, Salt Lake City, Utah and colleagues examined the causes and preventability of maternal deaths in a series of about 1.5 million deliveries between 2000 and 2006.
Among the total of 95 maternal deaths that occurred during this period, preexisting medical conditions caused or contributed to the death of 14 women, the team reports in the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology.
Ten deaths were judged to have been preventable but were due to actions or inactions of non-medical persons, including motor vehicle accidents, suicides, and alcohol abuse.
Only 17 deaths were deemed preventable with more appropriate medical care. Nine of these women died from pulmonary thromboembolism -- that is, a blood clot traveling to the lungs -- six after cesarean delivery, one following repeat cesarean delivery, and two after vaginal birth.
None of these women had been given "thromboembolism prophylaxis," or treatment to prevent blood clots forming in the legs and moving to the lungs and heart, the investigators say.
Thromboembolism prophylaxis, usually with pneumatic compression devices, "is already an accepted part of virtually every other type of major operation in the United States," Clark commented to Reuters Health. "In effect, hospitals only need to give the level of care to pregnant women that they have been giving to non-pregnant women and men for years," he said.
That is exactly what Clark's hospital network has done. "We have already successfully implemented the universal use of pneumatic compression devices for all cesarean patients in 96 percent of our facilities providing obstetric care, and will bring the remaining facilities into compliance by year's end," he said.

[cassioo]

we put SCD's on all C/S during surgery and until the next day and encourage early ambulation just like any other abdominal surgery and some women get lovenox. I've seen a few post c/s die a few days after d/c from PE. None of them would get up after surgery and ambulate and all were very over weight.