Maternal deaths in Ga. often preventable, point to broad problems

ATLANTA -- Ky Lindberg worked with other maternal health experts, assembling the latest case files of Georgians who died within months of pregnancy. Looking at death reports, she realized the same thing again and again: the pregnancies had led to the mothers’ deaths. And most of those deaths could have been prevented.

Soon, for the first time since the pandemic, Lindberg and her colleagues on Georgia’s Maternal Mortality Review Committee are expected to release the state’s latest maternal mortality rate. The patients’ details are secret by law, but an early report showed grim numbers.

That report, which summarized the top six causes of maternal mortality in women who are pregnant, delivering or in the year after a birth, found 78 deaths from those causes from 2018 to 2020 — all but two preventable. The full mortality report is expected to include more deaths.

The deaths are a sign of the need for better care of women, and more attention to symptoms that arise in the months after giving birth. And while the number of deaths may be small compared to the overall numbers who give birth, they also signal broad problems in the care that women get that can lead to sickness and hospitalization.

In advance of the release of the full maternal mortality report, the state has disclosed the most common fatal gaps and the committee’s recommended fixes: They want health workers to seek and understand the signs of pregnancy-related heart damage. They want those who care for patients with preeclampsia — a disorder involving high blood pressure in pregnancy — to re-check the patient’s blood pressure three days after they leave the hospital. They want doctors’ offices, hospitals and insurance companies to work together for a patient’s benefit. They want postpartum mental health issues...