Looking at Ina's Quilt

As we all know, Ina has created her Safe Motherhood Quilt as a way to memoralize mothers who die due to pregnancy issues. This is a very noble cause. I think it's great to remember those who have passed on.

Now, things get sticky when you start breaking down numbers and stories. Of all the women listed, there is no proof that 26 of them ever existed. There are news stories, SSDI registries, and/or websites for the rest of these women. I have to wonder if Ina even bothered to verify the existence of these women.

On top of these women whose identities cannot be confirmed, we have women that died from actual non-pregnancy related issues. There is one woman who died after being abused by her partner, one who was in a car accident the night before, one who was diagnosed with terminal cancer, one who had an asthma attack, etc. Several mothers died due to h1n1. That took the lives of many people, not just pregnant mothers. Women who dealt with illness or heart problems also died. Pregnancy doesn't give you heart problems. Pregnancy can give you something called cardiomyopathy. This can make a mother very ill and possibly take her life. Now, in some women with existing heart conditions, it can certainly exacerbate the problems. There are women who had pulmonary embolisms or aneurysms. Two Jehovah Witnesses chose to bleed to death after refusing transfusions.

Another one of the things that caught me eye is the fact that she claims death due to pregnancy/childbirth some time later. One death was blamed on two cesareans with the last being 25 years earlier! One mother was brain damaged for two years due to septicemia after carrying around a dead fetus. She was a midwife client planning her 5th homebirth. One mother was said to of developed congestive heart failure due to pregnancy and succumbed to it two years later. Yes, the mom with brain damage, we can attribute that to the issues related to pregnancy, but the others aren't.

So, if we count all the mothers who died due to other issues and unconfirmed identites, you remove 78 women. Causes of death related to pregnancy are due to things like infections (several abortion related are listed making me think Ina scours a certain pro-life site), hemorrhage (yep, a few here are also from a pro-life site), amniotic fluid embolism, and blood pressure issues (HELLP, toxemia, eclampsia, pre-e). These make up 61% of the mothers on the quilt,

Ina claims the maternal mortality rate is 1.5 to 3 times higher than is reported. Her quilt is proof of why she thinks this. If you add in women who die of any cause within 1 year, women who die that ever had a c-section, and women who are diagnosed with an illness either during pregnacy or within 1 year postpartum the numbers are going to be higher. However, this is an incredibly dishonest way to try to manipulate numbers and people's trust. Now that I'm thinking about it, isn't this how natural birth advocates try to say cesarean babies die three times as often as vaginally birthed babies?? It's quite interesting how Ina and her followers love to manipulate data to claim that doctors and hospitals are so evil!

ETA: I found that I missed a woman. Make that 27 women with unconfirmed identities!

Looking at Ina's Quilt

As we all know, Ina has created her Safe Motherhood Quilt as a way to memoralize mothers who die due to pregnancy issues. This is a very noble cause. I think it's great to remember those who have passed on.

Now, things get sticky when you start breaking down numbers and stories. Of all the women listed, there is no proof that 26 of them ever existed. There are news stories, SSDI registries, and/or websites for the rest of these women. I have to wonder if Ina even bothered to verify the existence of these women.

On top of these women whose identities cannot be confirmed, we have women that died from actual non-pregnancy related issues. There is one woman who died after being abused by her partner, one who was in a car accident the night before, one who was diagnosed with terminal cancer, one who had an asthma attack, etc. Several mothers died due to h1n1. That took the lives of many people, not just pregnant mothers. Women who dealt with illness or heart problems also died. Pregnancy doesn't give you heart problems. Pregnancy can give you something called cardiomyopathy. This can make a mother very ill and possibly take her life. Now, in some women with existing heart conditions, it can certainly exacerbate the problems. There are women who had pulmonary embolisms or aneurysms. Two Jehovah Witnesses chose to bleed to death after refusing transfusions.

Another one of the things that caught me eye is the fact that she claims death due to pregnancy/childbirth some time later. One death was blamed on two cesareans with the last being 25 years earlier! One mother was brain damaged for two years due to septicemia after carrying around a dead fetus. She was a midwife client planning her 5th homebirth. One mother was said to of developed congestive heart failure due to pregnancy and succumbed to it two years later. Yes, the mom with brain damage, we can attribute that to the issues related to pregnancy, but the others aren't.

So, if we count all the mothers who died due to other issues and unconfirmed identites, you remove 78 women. Causes of death related to pregnancy are due to things like infections (several abortion related are listed making me think Ina scours a certain pro-life site), hemorrhage (yep, a few here are also from a pro-life site), amniotic fluid embolism, and blood pressure issues (HELLP, toxemia, eclampsia, pre-e). These make up 61% of the mothers on the quilt,

Ina claims the maternal mortality rate is 1.5 to 3 times higher than is reported. Her quilt is proof of why she thinks this. If you add in women who die of any cause within 1 year, women who die that ever had a c-section, and women who are diagnosed with an illness either during pregnacy or within 1 year postpartum the numbers are going to be higher. However, this is an incredibly dishonest way to try to manipulate numbers and people's trust. Now that I'm thinking about it, isn't this how natural birth advocates try to say cesarean babies die three times as often as vaginally birthed babies?? It's quite interesting how Ina and her followers love to manipulate data to claim that doctors and hospitals are so evil!

ETA: I found that I missed a woman. Make that 27 women with unconfirmed identities!

Safe Motherhood Quilt Project

This afternoon I started my online session the same, hitting facebook first. Then I got side-tracked and went to Ina's Safe Motherhood Quilt Project.

The idea for the Safe Motherhood Quilt Project gestated within me over a period of several years. It was in the early 1990s that I began to be curious about maternal death in my country, after an unusual couple-they were both obstetricians-enrolled for care at the Farm Midwifery Center, Summertown TN, for their first pregnancy and birth. I learned from them and from a nurse-midwife who wrote a remembrance about a close friend that death was still an occasional possibility for U.S. women during pregnancy, birth and the year after the end of pregnancy. Curious about how many deaths occurred per year and what factors might be causing them, I began looking for information from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS). I learned from the officials with whom I talked at both agencies how little they actually know about the continuing problem of preventable maternal death in the U.S.

Sounds commendable, doesn't it?? You look at all these names and go through slides reading a small summary about what happened to these mothers. You see things about eclampsia/toxemia and wonder why on earth DR's allowed a woman to get so severe that she passed away. I've seen stories of perfectly healthy women just dropping and wondered why. All these deaths seem like medical error!

However, thanks to the power of google, you can find other information aside from what Ina has. I haven't seen a single death, so far, that is due to medical error. I am at file 13/211. I've seen a mother that suffered abuse from her partner then went into a seizure leading to stroke and heart attack. Mom was just a few days postpartum. Sadly, one of her children would die at this partners hands just six months later. Ina conveniently left out the fact that this mother had been beaten the morning she suffered from the seizure. You also see a story about a 15 year old girl with toxemia. What Ina fails to share is that this child was part of a secret polygamist group who had NOT gotten prenatal care nor would anyone allow her to see a DR. By the time her mother stepped in, it was too late. In one story, a mother drops from eclampsia while getting ready to go to the DR. Does the summary state that the mother had been in a car accident the night before?? Nope. The article about the mother from her local paper doesn't say a word about eclampsia. One story shared was about a mother who had a miscarriage/stillbirth in the 5th month and developed an infection (ie becoming septic) that damaged her organs leaving her comatose. What Ina fails to share is that this mother was a homebirther (planning her 5th) who possibly already had heart damage from a medication she had taken the year before. She had never had a single complication so they figured things would be fine! Two stories were about mothers who had splenic artery aneurysm. Unfortunately, this is due to pregnancy and the weight of the uterus during the 3rd trimester. The only mother who died from actual medical error was one who had placenta pieces left behind and became septic. One other case that stood out to me was a woman who was induced with twins (numbers 8 and 9) at over 41 weeks. Baby A was born perfectly fine but then baby 2 was breech and it's cord prolapsed. They rushed mom for an emergency c-section where she began to hemmorhage. Mom was given a hysterectomy, but due to her being a Jehovah's Witness, she refused a transfusion and died. We also had a mother that committed suicide due to PP Psychosis.

If you are like me, I find the site interesting considering Ina tries so hard to blame our obstetrical care system. With the case of the abuse victim, Ina has used her name but didn't address the circumstances. In the last case, she has blamed the DR for doing a c-section for the breech twin (whose cord prolapsed). I truly cannot believe she would take cases of dead mothers and blame the medical system when most of the cases she shares have nothing to do with it. Some cases are due to pregnancy and, as much as I hate to say it, would of happened no matter what. The only way to prevent a major event from occurring that is pregnancy induced is to prevent pregnancy. No woman knows if she will be the one that this happens to though.

I will be going through every single story Ina shares. Let's see exactly what information this site holds. So far, it isn't saying what she claims to be saying.

Safe Motherhood Quilt Project

This afternoon I started my online session the same, hitting facebook first. Then I got side-tracked and went to Ina's Safe Motherhood Quilt Project.

The idea for the Safe Motherhood Quilt Project gestated within me over a period of several years. It was in the early 1990s that I began to be curious about maternal death in my country, after an unusual couple-they were both obstetricians-enrolled for care at the Farm Midwifery Center, Summertown TN, for their first pregnancy and birth. I learned from them and from a nurse-midwife who wrote a remembrance about a close friend that death was still an occasional possibility for U.S. women during pregnancy, birth and the year after the end of pregnancy. Curious about how many deaths occurred per year and what factors might be causing them, I began looking for information from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS). I learned from the officials with whom I talked at both agencies how little they actually know about the continuing problem of preventable maternal death in the U.S.

Sounds commendable, doesn't it?? You look at all these names and go through slides reading a small summary about what happened to these mothers. You see things about eclampsia/toxemia and wonder why on earth DR's allowed a woman to get so severe that she passed away. I've seen stories of perfectly healthy women just dropping and wondered why. All these deaths seem like medical error!

However, thanks to the power of google, you can find other information aside from what Ina has. I haven't seen a single death, so far, that is due to medical error. I am at file 13/211. I've seen a mother that suffered abuse from her partner then went into a seizure leading to stroke and heart attack. Mom was just a few days postpartum. Sadly, one of her children would die at this partners hands just six months later. Ina conveniently left out the fact that this mother had been beaten the morning she suffered from the seizure. You also see a story about a 15 year old girl with toxemia. What Ina fails to share is that this child was part of a secret polygamist group who had NOT gotten prenatal care nor would anyone allow her to see a DR. By the time her mother stepped in, it was too late. In one story, a mother drops from eclampsia while getting ready to go to the DR. Does the summary state that the mother had been in a car accident the night before?? Nope. The article about the mother from her local paper doesn't say a word about eclampsia. One story shared was about a mother who had a miscarriage/stillbirth in the 5th month and developed an infection (ie becoming septic) that damaged her organs leaving her comatose. What Ina fails to share is that this mother was a homebirther (planning her 5th) who possibly already had heart damage from a medication she had taken the year before. She had never had a single complication so they figured things would be fine! Two stories were about mothers who had splenic artery aneurysm. Unfortunately, this is due to pregnancy and the weight of the uterus during the 3rd trimester. The only mother who died from actual medical error was one who had placenta pieces left behind and became septic. One other case that stood out to me was a woman who was induced with twins (numbers 8 and 9) at over 41 weeks. Baby A was born perfectly fine but then baby 2 was breech and it's cord prolapsed. They rushed mom for an emergency c-section where she began to hemmorhage. Mom was given a hysterectomy, but due to her being a Jehovah's Witness, she refused a transfusion and died. We also had a mother that committed suicide due to PP Psychosis.

If you are like me, I find the site interesting considering Ina tries so hard to blame our obstetrical care system. With the case of the abuse victim, Ina has used her name but didn't address the circumstances. In the last case, she has blamed the DR for doing a c-section for the breech twin (whose cord prolapsed). I truly cannot believe she would take cases of dead mothers and blame the medical system when most of the cases she shares have nothing to do with it. Some cases are due to pregnancy and, as much as I hate to say it, would of happened no matter what. The only way to prevent a major event from occurring that is pregnancy induced is to prevent pregnancy. No woman knows if she will be the one that this happens to though.

I will be going through every single story Ina shares. Let's see exactly what information this site holds. So far, it isn't saying what she claims to be saying.