Why are Black Women More Likely to Experience Birth Injuries?

Maternal death is a public health crisis within the United States that does not appear to be improving. With black mothers in particular, their risk for injury or death, whether their own or to the baby, is higher than the rate of the same occurrences to other mothers.

Mortality Rates on the Rise

Pregnancy-related deaths continue to rise, and this calculation does not account for women who survived severe complications or traumatic events related to labor and delivery. According to the Centers of Disease Control (CDC), the pregnancy-related mortality rate of approximately 7.2 deaths per 100,000 live births in 1987 rose to 17.2 deaths per 100,000. This rate further increases to 42.8 deaths per 100,000 for black women between 1987 and 2015.

While there is an increasing number of women within the United States that have chronic health conditions before their pregnancy, there is still an excessively high rate of complication and death for pregnant women.

Meet The Team Who Could Help

Lyle Warshauer, a member of the Warshauer Woodward Atkins, has handled many cases involving birth injuries to the mother or infant. Through her experience, there are more apparent maternal problems related to the labor and delivery process, and the lack of attention to the problems patients may experience is resulting in the injury or death of the mother and her child.

In Lyle’s experience, there are problems with maternal wellbeing in rural community hospitals and urban hospitals where a failure to diagnose may lead to severe complications and permanent birth injuries. While there are instances where complications cannot be avoided, there are often ways to detect birth injuries or complications early enough to avoid the severe effects that are seen nationwide.

Lyle Warshauer and the other knowledgeable attorneys at the Warshauer Woodward Atkins are dedicated to fighting for the rights of their clients in medical malpractice and birth injury cases. If you have experienced a severe complication while giving birth or believe to have suffered from medical malpractice, you need to reach out to local legal counsel. Our attorneys could assess your case and help you chart the best path forward to get the compensation and justice you may be entitled to.