Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Administration Asked To Focus On High Maternal Mortality Rates That Make U.S. Outlier Among Developed Countries
A bipartisan group of Senators on Tuesday asked the Trump administration to focus more on reducing deaths caused by pregnancy complications. The 14 senators, led by Tom Carper (D-Del.), Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), Tim Scott (R-S.C.) and Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), wrote to Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar asking that the agency "focus on strategies to reduce maternal mortality rates in the United States." (Hellmann, 10/9)
In other maternal health news —
Female athletes seem to be able to exercise safely and intensively both before and during pregnancy without increasing their risk for birth-related complications, even if they are trekking up Mount Everest, according to two eye-opening new studies. Together, the new research undercuts widely held beliefs about strenuous physical training and pregnancy. (Reynolds, 10/10)
If you're a first-time mother and you opt for epidural anesthesia during labor, your doctor may suggest you wait about an hour after your cervix is completely dilated before you start trying to push the baby down the birth canal. But a study published Tuesday in JAMA, the flagship journal of the American Medical Association, suggests that might not be the best advice. (Neighmond, 10/9)
Dark circles formed like warning signs beneath Yu Fen Wang’s eyes as she worked 12-hour graveyard shifts in a Queens maternity center that operated on the margins of legality. Her family said she had grown gaunt, could not sleep and told her husband she no longer wanted to live. (Robbins and Goldbaum, 10/10)
