"And as far as your claim, Dr. Tuteur, that the stats on the 2005 Maternal Mortality report, compiled via the efforts of the WHO, UNICEF, UNFPA and the World Bank, are ERRONEOUS"
I did not say that the WHO stats are erroneous. I said that you copied the wrong column. The numbers I presented ARE the WHO stats.
"Many will claim, that the problem initially began when we, as a culture, decided to tightly "manage" pregnancy and childbirth as if it were a disease state--when we began meddling in a process much further beyond providing good quality prenatal care, and access to antibiotics which, indisputably DO make a big impact on mother/baby outcomes."
Yes, and they will be utterly, totally and completely wrong. That's what I mean about exploiting the tragedy of maternal mortality. Most of the maternal deaths in the US are caused by LACK of access to technology. The pregnancies of those women should have been managed MORE.
Homebirth advocates don't seem to understand that childbirth is INHERENTLY dangerous. It is a leading cause of death of young women in EVERY time, place and culture. According to Save the Children, the day of birth is the MOST dangerous day of the entire 18 years of childhood. The only people who appear to be unaware of this fact are homebirth advocates.
In the last 100 years American obstetrics has lowered neonatal mortality 90% and maternal mortality 99%! In the absence of "managing" pregnancy, approximately 225,000 babies and 39,000 mothers would die EACH and EVERY year. American obstetricians believe that the neonatal and maternal mortality rates can be lowered even further, but that involves MORE technology, not less.
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"And as far as your claim, Dr. Tuteur, that the stats on the 2005 Maternal Mortality report, compiled via the efforts of the WHO, UNICEF, UNFPA and the World Bank, are ERRONEOUS"
I did not say that the WHO stats are erroneous. I said that you copied the wrong column. The numbers I presented ARE the WHO stats.
"Many will claim, that the problem initially began when we, as a culture, decided to tightly "manage" pregnancy and childbirth as if it were a disease state--when we began meddling in a process much further beyond providing good quality prenatal care, and access to antibiotics which, indisputably DO make a big impact on mother/baby outcomes."
Yes, and they will be utterly, totally and completely wrong. That's what I mean about exploiting the tragedy of maternal mortality. Most of the maternal deaths in the US are caused by LACK of access to technology. The pregnancies of those women should have been managed MORE.
Homebirth advocates don't seem to understand that childbirth is INHERENTLY dangerous. It is a leading cause of death of young women in EVERY time, place and culture. According to Save the Children, the day of birth is the MOST dangerous day of the entire 18 years of childhood. The only people who appear to be unaware of this fact are homebirth advocates.
In the last 100 years American obstetrics has lowered neonatal mortality 90% and maternal mortality 99%! In the absence of "managing" pregnancy, approximately 225,000 babies and 39,000 mothers would die EACH and EVERY year. American obstetricians believe that the neonatal and maternal mortality rates can be lowered even further, but that involves MORE technology, not less.
Amy Tuteur, MD
July 17, 2008 - 6:50amThis Comment
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