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The author investigates textual sources from early modern Denmark-Norway concerning women dying in childbed. Funeral works in particular, but also church ordinances and instructions to midwives and expecting women, exhibit a set of models for explaining this type of death. Framed by these models, the dead female body expressed central Protestant perceptions of mankind and salvation. The explanations of these deaths depended on the text genre and context in which they were given. The message accordingly changed from comfort or consolation to mediating the ideal image of women. This article contributes to the understanding of how evangelical theology was implemented in the conjoined kingdoms of Denmark and Norway, and how the new theology provided interpretations of the life and death of early modern women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Losing a parent due to premature death is generally associated with negative child outcomes. However, the study of possible (modifying) effects of the child's age and family background has been neglected in previous research. In this paper, we analyse the relationship between the child's age at parental death and the child's university education, and we study whether the possible association is modified by the child's family background. We apply ordinary least square regression and linear sibling fixed effect models to high-quality Finnish Census Panel data, consisting of 88,727 children born between 1982 and 1990. According to our results, the negative influence of parental death varies by the child's age; the consequences of parental death for young children were the most adverse. Interestingly, the influence of parental death seemed not to vary by family background. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides new estimates of the impact of the time to death on health care expenditures when the time to death is assumed endogenous. It further proposes estimation methods that take into account the right censoring of time to death. The data consist of twins from Denmark aged over 70 in 1999. The age of death of the mother and the living status of the co-twin are used as instruments for time to death. The results show that IV estimators give estimates higher than those obtained in previous studies when the time to death is assumed exogenous. Furthermore, the estimators proposed in this paper provide estimates that are generally lower compared to the ones obtained with the IV estimator. These results indicate that the impact of time to death has been potentially overestimated in previous studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses how the U.S. can combat the rising maternal death rate in the country, as of January 2020. Topics covered include the current maternal-death climate in the U.S., how California implemented changes in order to become the only state to decrease its maternal death rate over the past decade and the recommendation to amend the Preventing Maternal Deaths Act of 2018. It suggests the need for a societal initiative to increase education and awareness regarding maternal mortality.

Voici l'histoire de Jeannot et des drames familiaux qui ont précédé sa maladie, un délire paranoïde à deux, partagé par une sœur aînée, l'histoire de leur claustration, du déni de la mort de leur mère, après laquelle fut réalisée par Jeannot la gravure du plancher de sa chambre, avant qu'il ne meure à son tour. Cet entretien avec le neuropsychiatre Guy Roux évoque la découverte de cette œuvre et ses premières expositions en milieu psychiatrique. L'engouement dont elle fut l'objet, relayé par la presse, fut consécutif aux événements culturels que permit son acquisition par les laboratoires Bristol-Myers Squibb. L'installation du plancher devant l'hôpital Sainte-Anne à Paris, à l'initiative du Professeur Jean-Pierre Olié, fut saluée par de nombreux commentaires, dont certains critiques. Divers romans et pièces de théâtre se sont inspirés de cette affaire. This is the story of Jeannot based on a number of tragic events that predated his disease, a paranoid delirium shared by his older sister, their seclusion and the denial of their mother's death, after which the engraving of his room's wooden floor was realized and just before he died. This interview with the neuro-psychiatrist Guy Roux relates the discovery of this piece of work and the very first exhibitions in the psychiatric circles. The acquisition by the laboratory Bristol-Myers Squib triggered many cultural events with a broad media exposure so it was received with a great enthusiasm. The setting of the floorboard at hospital Sainte-Anne in Paris initiated by Pr Jean Pierre Olié was greeted by several comments of which some criticisms. Multiple novels and pieces of theatre were inspired by this story. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Historians call sectio in mortua the act of opening the abdomen of a woman who has died during pregnancy or in childbirth in order to extract a baby. According to recent studies, the sectio is considered to be a routine practice carried out by male surgeons from the end of the Middle Ages, particularly in Italy, where the evidence of the sectio being performed by a midwife is scanty. But was it really such a popular operation at the time, and can the figure of the midwife be seen as secondary? It is also known that the operation was qualified through aspects which went beyond the surgical sphere, such as religion, myth, and especially law. How did these fields interact? This article highlights the complexity of sectio through the interpretation of different sources spanning from the late Middle Ages to the Early Modern period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A personal narrative is presented which explores the author's experience of being a children and his mother who died of cancer.

This article analyses representative life stories that reflect the experiences of people who participated in the Namibian liberation struggle, as well as one narrative that reflects the traumatic effect of the brutal murder of her mother witnessed by a five year old girl. The stories detail the vicious nature of settler colonialism in South West Africa and the motive that drove youths to abscond from school to join SWAPO camps in neighbouring countries. Two of the male authored texts focus on the political dimensions of the struggle, with minimal personal details; the two accounts penned by women who obtained secondary and tertiary education in exile and underwent military training foreground the personal dimension that is understated in the male accounts. The human side of war, suffering and discrimination is captured in all the accounts, in differing degrees. The strong Christian beliefs of the selected authors are a striking feature in most of the life stories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To clarify the necessity for and problems related to autopsy for determining the cause of maternal death in Japan.Methods: Women who died during pregnancy or within a year after delivery were analyzed by the Maternal Death Exploratory Committee between 2012 and 2015 in Japan. Maternal deaths were analyzed to verify the requirement of autopsy in cases in which autopsy was performed and the need for autopsy in cases in which it was not performed.Results: Among the 49 cases performed autopsy, the final diagnosis was compatible with the clinical course in 24 cases, while the autopsy diagnosis was incompatible with the clinical course in 13 cases. In two cases, the final diagnosis was based on the clinical course, but an autopsy could exclude other possible causes. In three cases, no exact cause of maternal death was identified after autopsy. On the other hand, in cases without an autopsy, the final diagnosis was made using ante-mortem operating findings and surgical specimens in twenty-one cases. Though, thirty-one cases were estimated diagnosis based on post-mortem imaging or ante-mortem examinations, the exact original cause of death was not determined in 25 cases, and the cause of death could not be identified in eight cases without autopsy.Conclusion: Because in most cases the autopsy provides an exact cause of death, the necessity of autopsies should be more widely accepted in Japan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To assess the reliability of maternal deaths surveillance system (MDSS) and to determine the factors that influence its completeness in one region of Morocco. Methods: We conducted a retrospective survey in “Gharb Chrarda Bni Hssen” region (GCBH) between January the 1st, 2013 and September the 30th, 2014 using multiple sources approach. All deaths of women of reproductive age (WRA) were investigated using certificates with medical cause, medical records and interviews with household members and relatives to ascertain a pregnancy-related or maternal death. An External Expert Committee reviewed the information collected to assign a cause for each death. Our results were compared to those reported in the same period by the MDSS. Findings: Our study identified 690 deaths of WRA and 69 maternal deaths of which 34.8% occurred outside health facilities. The MDSS recorded during the study period 538 deaths of WRA and 29 maternal deaths (including only one outside health facility) representing respectively an underreporting of 22.0% and 58.0%. Late maternal deaths represented 11.4% of all deaths of women with a registered pregnancy within 12 months prior to the death, while the MDSS identified none. The maternal mortality ratio (MMR) was estimated at 103, approximately 2.5 times higher than that reported in the MDSS. Conclusion: Our study has shown weaknesses in the current notification system for maternal deaths in the region of GCBH. Therefore, more attention must be given to the regional committees in charge of auditing the cases and defining actions to be implemented to prevent further maternal deaths. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Maternal sepsis remains one of the leading causes of direct and indirect maternal mortality both in high- and low-income environments. In the last two decades, systems biology approaches, based on '-omics' technologies, have started revolutionizing the diagnosis and management of the septic syndrome. The scope of this narrative review is to present an overview of the basic '-omics' technologies, exemplified by cases relevant to maternal sepsis.Methods: Narrative review of the new '-omics' technologies based on a detailed review of the literature.Results: After presenting the main 'omics' technologies, we discuss their limitations and the need for integrated approaches that encompass research efforts across multiple '-omics' layers in the '-omics' cascade between the genome and the phenome.Conclusions: Systems biology approaches are revolutionizing the research landscape in maternal sepsis. There is a need for increased awareness, from the side of health practitioners, as a requirement for the effective implementation of the new technologies in the research and clinical practice in maternal sepsis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The death of a mother is a tragedy in itself but it can also have devastating effects for the survival of her children. We aim to explore the impact of a mother’s death on child survival in rural Gambia, West Africa. Methods: We used 25 years of prospective surveillance data from the Farafenni Health and Demographic surveillance system (FHDSS). Mortality rates per 1,000 child-years up to ten years of age were estimated and Kaplan-Meier survival curves plotted by maternal vital status. Cox proportional hazard models were used to examine factors associated with child survival. Findings: Between 1st April 1989 and 31st December 2014, a total of 2, 221 (7.8%) deaths occurred during 152,906 child-years of follow up. Overall mortality rate was 14.53 per 1,000 child-years (95% CI: 13.93–15.14). Amongst those whose mother died, the rate was 25.89 (95% CI: 17.99–37.25) compared to 14.44 (95% CI: 13.84–15.06) per 1,000 child-years for those whose mother did not die. Children were 4.66 (95% CI: 3.15–6.89) times more likely to die if their mother died compared to those with a surviving mother. Infants whose mothers died during delivery or shortly after were up to 7 times more likely to die within the first month of life compared to those whose mothers survived. Maternal vital status was significantly associated with the risk of dying within the first 2 years of life (p-value <0.05), while this was no longer observed for children over 2 years of age (P = 0.872). Other factors associated with an increased risk of dying were living in more rural areas, and birth spacing and year of birth. Conclusions: Mother’s survival is strongly associated with child survival. Our findings highlight the importance of the continuum of care for both the mother and child not only throughout pregnancy, and childbirth but beyond 6 weeks post-partum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article talks about the people she lost due to cancer, and mentions how the death of her loving ones due to cancer makes her angry. Topics discussed include the author losing her friend and philosopher Sue Campbell to breast cancer also also her mother, the "Our Faithfulness to the Past" written by Campbell from the days she was surviving cancer, and the research paper "Playfulness, ‘World'-Travelling, and Loving Perception," by Maria Lugones.

Objective: To ascertain demographic and clinical characteristics of maternal deaths from self-harm (accidental overdose or suicide) to identify opportunities for prevention.Methods: We report a case series of pregnancy-associated deaths resulting from self-harm in the state of Colorado between 2004 and 2012. Self-harm deaths were identified from several sources, including death certificates. Birth and death certificates along with coroner, prenatal care, and delivery hospitalization records were abstracted. Descriptive analyses were performed. For context, we describe demographic characteristics of women with a maternal death from self-harm and all women with live births in Colorado.Results: Among the 211 total maternal deaths in Colorado over the study interval, 30% (n=63) resulted from self-harm. The pregnancy-associated death ratio from overdose was 5.0 (95% confidence interval [CI] 3.4-7.2) per 100,000 live births and from suicide 4.6 (95% CI 3.0-6.6) per 100,000 live births. Detailed records were obtained for 94% (n=59) of women with deaths from self-harm. Deaths were equally distributed throughout the first postpartum year (mean 6.21±3.3 months postpartum) with only six maternal deaths during pregnancy. Seventeen percent (n=10) had a known substance use disorder. Prior psychiatric diagnoses were documented in 54% (n=32) and prior suicide attempts in 10% (n=6). Although half (n=27) of the women with deaths from self-harm were noted to be taking psychopharmacotherapy at conception, 48% of them discontinued the medications during pregnancy. Fifty women had toxicology testing available; pharmaceutical opioids were the most common drug identified (n=21).Conclusion: Self-harm was the most common cause of pregnancy-associated mortality, with most deaths occurring in the postpartum period. A four-pronged educational and program building effort to include women, health care providers, health care systems, and both governments and organizations at the community and national levels may allow for a reduction in maternal deaths. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Social autopsy is an innovative approach to explore social barriers and factors associated to a death in the community. The process also sensitize the community people to avert future deaths. Social autopsy has been introduced in maternal deaths in Bangladesh first time in 2010. This study is to identify the social factors in the rural community associated to maternal deaths. It also looks at how the community responses in social autopsy intervention to prevent future maternal deaths. Methods: The study was conducted in the Thakurgaon district of Bangladesh in 2010. We have purposively selected 28 social autopsy cases of which maternal deaths occurred due to either haemorrhage or due to convulsions. The autopsy was conducted by the Government health and family planning first line field supervisors in rural community. Family members and neighbours of the deceased participated in each autopsy and provided their comments and responses. Results: A number of social factors including delivery conducted by the untrained birth attendant or family members, delays in understanding about maternal complications, delays in decision making to transfer the mother, lack of proper knowledge, education and traditional myth influences the maternal deaths. The community identified their own problems, shared within them and decide upon rectify themselves for future death prevention. Conclusions: Social autopsy is a useful tools to identify social community within the community by discussing the factors that took place during a maternal death. The process supports villagers to think and change their behavioural patterns and commit towards preventing such deaths in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The tale "One Morning" by Ariel Driver is presented.

Background: In developing countries, men are sometimes stereotypically perceived as uninterested in maternal health, but their reproductive health roles have been widely recognized. Some studies have suggested that effective communication with men on safe motherhood can yield behavior changes capable of reducing maternal deaths. Aim: This study's objective was to study the impact of an educational session on the knowledge and attitudes of married men regarding maternal deaths. Design: Men were interviewed before the intervention and then participated in a joint educational session on safe motherhood. Follow-up interviews took place three months after the intervention. Results: 141 randomly selected men enrolled in the study; 122 completed both interviews. After the session, men were more likely to recognize a danger sign of pregnancy and delivery, but there was no increase in their willingness to participate in making the local hospital better for maternal healthcare. Mean composite scores increased significantly. Conclusions: Married men have moderate knowledge about maternal deaths and are potentially educable regarding their prevention. Further controlled intervention programs and studies are recommended. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To estimate whether the reported increase in obstetric acute renal failure in the United States was attributable to a concurrent rise in postpartum hemorrhage, a change in other risk factors, or changes in the diagnosis of acute renal failure.Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study to quantify temporal trends in acute renal failure among 10,969,263 hospital deliveries in the United States from 1999 to 2011 using data from the Nationwide Inpatient Sample. Dialysis and maternal death were used as markers of severe acute renal failure. Logistic regression was used to determine whether changes in risk factors explained the temporal rise in acute renal failure.Results: Obstetric acute renal failure rose from 2.4 to 6.3 per 10,000 deliveries between 1999-2001 and 2010-2011, a 10% yearly increase (95% confidence interval [CI] 8-11%) and adjustment for risk factors only partially explained the rise (adjusted yearly increase 6%, 95% CI 5-8%). The overall severity of acute renal failure decreased, although acute renal failure with dialysis rose from 0.27 to 0.36 per 10,000 deliveries (P for trend=.01), and acute renal failure associated with maternal death increased from 0.13 to 0.23 per 10,000 deliveries (P for trend=.01). The temporal increase in acute renal failure with dialysis was abolished by adjustment for chronic kidney disease and chronic hypertension.Conclusion: Changes in diagnosis or ascertainment have led to substantial increases in obstetric acute renal failure, whereas increases in chronic kidney disease and chronic hypertension among pregnant women have resulted in modest but significant increases in acute renal failure with dialysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers the author's insights regarding various epiphanic moments in his life. He talks about the death of his mother from cancer when he was 19 years old, which taught him that the world moves on. In addition, he also mentions the birth of his daughter, during which he saw people from his city born the same way at the hospital.

The article focuses on the traumatic childhood memories of English writer, philologist, and poet J. R. R. Tolkien and its importance in his thinking and writing. Particular focus was given on the death of Tolkien's mother Mabel Tolkien, who suffered from diabetes and died on November 1904. The article also discusses the significant changes on Tolkien's character and his pessimism resulting from the depression and psychological trauma as he faced the loss of his family.

The author narrates her mother's death from melanoma tumor and struggles from her second marriage. She describes her stepfather Bob and the tumultuous relationship of her mother with her stepfather. The author relates her first clash with her stepfather and what she felt when her stepfather announced that he needed to reclaim the car her mother had given her the morning of her memorial service.

In Mexico, the measurement of maternal death has demonstrated the extent to which the risk to women's lives is determined by their class, location, and ethnicity. In this paper, I examine how the Mexican federal government has implemented measurement and monitoring regimes to track and respond to maternal deaths. Drawing on field research and interviews conducted at various times between 2004 and 2010, I consider some of the contradictory knowledge and governance effects that this turn to measurement has generated in the Mexican health-care system. Measurement and monitoring regimes, I argue, have given maternal health advocates the evidence to argue that it is failings within the health-care system which have made high levels of mortality so intractable. At the same time, measuring mortality has rendered broader aspects of sexual and reproductive rights less visible, while also generating a politics of responsibility and culpability. I trace in this paper a tendency by some health-care professionals to resist what they see as the punitive nature of maternal health monitoring regimes, by either 'gaming' the numbers, and/or shifting responsibility other, usually more vulnerable, populations. This analysis highlights the importance of attending to the context in which measurement regimes are introduced. In the context of a deeply flawed system, measurement regimes will generate tensions around responsibility which cannot easily be resolved, and may be resisted by those on whom the regime depends for its reliability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: The present study aimed to explore the inter-relationships among maternal death, household economic status after the event, and potential influencing factors. Methods: We conducted a prospective cohort study of households that had experienced maternal death (n = 195) and those that experienced childbirth without maternal death (n = 384) in rural China. All the households were interviewed after the event occurred and were followed up 12 months later. Structural equation modeling was used to test the relationship model, utilizing income and expenditure per capita in the following year after the event as the main outcome variables, maternal death as the predictor, and direct costs, the amount of money offset by positive and negative coping strategies, whether the husband remarried, and whether the newborn was alive as the mediators. Results: In the following year after the event, the path analysis revealed a direct effect from maternal death to lower income per capita (standardized coefficient = -0.43, p = 0.041) and to lower expenditure per capita (standardized coefficient = -0.51, p<0.001). A significant indirect effect was found from maternal death to lower income and expenditure per capita mediated by the influencing factors of higher direct costs, less money from positive coping methods, more money from negative coping, and the survival of the newborn. Conclusion: This study analyzed the direct and indirect effects of maternal death on a household economy. The results provided evidence for better understanding the mechanism of how this event affects a household economy and provided a reference for social welfare policies to target the most vulnerable households that have suffered from maternal deaths. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article takes as its starting point the paradoxical representation of mothers in popular culture. On the one hand the mother is constructed as central to the physical and emotional development of the child; on the other, she is routinely rejected or elided, questioned, and vilified. One expression of this ambivalent attitude is the re-circulation of the trope of the dead mother. The trope, which ostensibly is employed to create sympathy for a character, or simply to drive the plot, often also privileges fathers, suggesting that children are better off without mothers. After a brief genre overview of the use of the trope of the dead mother on film and television, the article analyses how the BBC serial Single Father, with its repeated depictions of the mother's violent death, develops the trope, by not only privileging the father and vilifying the dead mother, but also reducing her death to a plot point, a backdrop for romance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Postpartum hemorrhage (PPH) is a major cause of maternal mortality, accounting for one quarter of all maternal deaths worldwide. Estimates of its incidence in the literature vary widely, from 3 % to 15 % of deliveries. Uterotonics after birth are the only intervention that has been shown to be effective in preventing PPH. Tranexamic acid (TXA), an antifibrinolytic agent, has been investigated as a potentially useful complement to uterotonics for prevention because it has been proved to reduce blood loss in elective surgery, bleeding in trauma patients, and menstrual blood loss. Randomized controlled trials for PPH prevention after cesarean (n = 10) and vaginal (n = 2) deliveries show that women who received TXA had significantly less postpartum blood loss without any increase in their rate of severe adverse effects. However, the quality of these trials was poor and they were not designed to test the effect of TXA on the reduction of PPH incidence. Large, adequately powered, multicenter randomized controlled trials are required before the widespread use of TXA to prevent PPH can be recommended. Methods and design: A multicenter, double-blind, randomized controlled trial will be performed. It will involve 4000 women in labor for a planned vaginal singleton delivery, at a term≥ 35 weeks. Treatment (either TXA 1 g or placebo) will be administered intravenously just after birth. Prophylactic oxytocin will be administered to all women. The primary outcome will be the incidence of PPH, defined by blood loss ≥500 mL, measured with a graduated collector bag. This study will have 80 % power to show a 30 % reduction in the incidence of PPH, from 10.0 % to 7.0 %. Discussion: In addition to prophylactic uterotonic administration, a complementary component of the management of third stage of labor acting on the coagulation process may be useful in preventing PPH. TXA is a promising candidate drug, inexpensive, easy to administer, and simple to add to the routine management of deliveries in hospitals. This large, adequately powered, multicenter, randomized placebo-controlled trial seeks to determine if the risk-benefit ratio favors the routine use of TXA after delivery to prevent PPH. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mortality by abortion has continuously decreased over the past fifty years in Chile. In fact, maternal death as a result of an induced abortion has become an exceptionally rare phenomenon in epidemiological terms (a risk of 1 in 4 million pregnant women of fertile age or 0.4 per 100,000 life births for abortion of any type, excluding ectopic pregnancy). After abortion became illegal in 1989, deaths related to abortion continued to decrease from 10.8 to 0.39 per 100,000 live births. This scientific fact challenges the common notion that less permissive abortion laws lead to greater mortality associated with abortion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author discusses the first reports coming from the Mothers and Babies- Reducing Risk through Audits and Confidential Enquiries across the United Kingdom (MBRACE-UK). Topics covered include the confused period during the demise of the programme running the Confidential Enquiries into Maternal Deaths (CEMD), the new reporting styles such as the gap between a death and the report, and the causes of the deaths. Also discussed is the importance of the hospital location of the sick mother.