Schwarzenegger's Legacy: Maternal Mortality Triples in CA

In the last decade, the number of women who died within 42 days after giving birth has tripled in the state of California. According to a forthcoming report from the California Department of Health, leaked to ABC News, the maternal mortality rate in the state has gone from 5.6 per 100,000 live births, to 16.9 per 100,000, a threefold increase. This is above the rate for the entire U.S., which is already bad, at 11 deaths per 100,000 live births, putting it 40th place worldwide in a 2005 World Health Organization ranking. In January, a leading accreditation and certification group, the Joint Commission, issued an alert stating that "current trends and evidence suggest that maternal mortality rates [in the U.S.] may be increasing."

A common cause of death after childbirth is a stroke, caused by blood clot having formed in the legs during pregnancy. The California report points to increased obesity and use of cesarean sections in delivery as likely causes, but fail to mention the financial motive behind this, that hospitals are increasing the use of C-sections to shorten the hospital stay of new mothers.