The dramatic statistical differences in maternal and infant mortality across the world point to not only very different practices and standards of care, but also very different societies, levels of economic development, levels of disease burden, nutritional factors, education, and on and on and on….

With specific regard to maternal mortality, perhaps there are a few more professionals in the U.S. than elsewhere who have significant room to improve. Learning to more quickly identify those people (as well as the root causes leading to their deficiencies) might ultimately help to bring our numbers more into line with European achievements.

But even before condemning U.S. medical practices as necessarily being at fault, I think it would also be reasonable to acknowledge that there are geographical and maternal population differences between the U.S. and Europe that come into play as well.

Europeans, by and large, are fitter than their American counterparts. There is (substantially) less obesity in Europe and the hazards that accompany it. I don’t know what crack cocaine prevalence is like in Ireland, but I’d guess that it’s a bit more of a problem here in the U.S., as I’ve personally witnessed women who have precipitated labor with it. Genetic factors may come into play as well: pelvic proportions, tendency to hemorrhage, and tendency to develop pulmonary emboli all come to mind as things that will vary from population to population. Yes, women may be women the world over, but the U.S. still has a far more diverse (and somewhat more high risk) patient population mix than most European nations do, and I think that needs to be acknowledged.

And remember, Breast Milk has STEM CELLS! Why are we still throwing it away? Because they can’t make money off of it!