In recent years, the number of deaths in Texas linked to pregnancy and childbirth has grown a staggering amount. By some measures, Texas now has the highest maternal death rate in the developed world.
Yet,as a new editorial in the Dallas Morning News reports, Texas has another, related problem: No one knows exactly how many women are dying.
According to a new study in the medical journal Birth , Texas keeps such slipshod records on the health of mothers that it’s impossible to get an accurate picture of how many women die due to childbirth each year. However, it’s important to note that the maternal death picture may not be as bleak as previously believed.
Poor record-keeping may be at least partly responsible for the shamefully high numbers of dying mothers in Texas. However, without a better record-keeping system, it’s difficult to know for sure.