Seems like the CDC has overstated the rate. By a long shot.
It is one thing to collect data, another to properly digest the data. Cliff’s Notes: the big increase in maternal deaths was from an addition of a “pregnant” box to check on death certificates. Had nothing to do with cause of death. You could be pregnant, die in a car wreck, and get added to maternal death. When recalculating maternal death rates using the old method, essentially no change over the 20 plus year time frame staying steady at 10/100,000.
I worked at a high risk maternity hospital during the time frame covered in the study. That is about the rate we saw. No trending increase despite the ever worsening health of the population.
