Call To Probe All Maternal Deaths

The Age

Wednesday October 18, 2006

CAROL NADER, HEALTH REPORTER

CORONERS should investigate every death of a woman during pregnancy or childbirth, a medical adviser to the State Government says.

A national report to be released today shows that only 56 per cent of maternal deaths in Australia are investigated by coroners.

But one of the authors of the report, Associate Professor James King, said every death in pregnancy, childbirth and within six weeks of giving birth should be investigated.

"There's absolutely no justification for not having as complete information as you can about every possible maternal death," he said.

A report by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare shows there were 95 maternal deaths between 2000 and 2002 - a rate of 11.1 women in every 100,000 who gave birth. This was up from 8.4 per 100,000 women in the previous three years. The increase is due to more stringent reporting and changes to how the deaths are classified, the report says.

Professor King, the chairman of the institute's national advisory committee on maternal mortality, said that if a woman's death was "expected", coroners did not investigate.

But he said no death during pregnancy or childbirth should be considered "expected". Professor King said there had been maternal deaths that would have been better explained had a coroner been involved.

He predicts that growing obesity rates will lead to more maternal deaths and contribute to more stillbirths and pregnancy complications.

The report said that of the 95 maternal deaths, 84 were related directly or indirectly to the pregnancy's management.