Maternal mortality in the United States is among the highest of all industrialized nations. Shockingly, the top cause of obstetric death no longer belongs to pregnancy related factors; homicide is the most common cause of pregnancy associated death. And suicide is not far behind. In this episode we will review a new publication from the ACOG reviewing staggering statistics on pregnancy associated deaths. We will distinguish between “pregnancy related deaths” and “pregnancy associated deaths”, and discuss how “the big 4” are risk factors for both homicide and suicide.
