"For Serena Williams, Childbirth Was A Harrowing Ordeal. She’s Not Alone" - Maya Salam

Not even the tennis dynamo Serena Williams is immune from the complications and challenges new mothers face during and after childbirth. The day after giving birth to her daughter via cesarean section, Ms. Williams was having trouble breathing and immediately assumed she was having another pulmonary embolism. She alerted a nurse to what she felt was happening in her body and asked for a CT scan and a blood thinner, but the nurse suggested that pain medication had perhaps left Ms. Williams confused. When the ultrasound revealed nothing, she underwent a CT scan, which showed several small blood clots in her lungs. She was immediately put on the heparin drip. About 700 women die each year in the United States as a result of pregnancy or delivery complications, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Poverty, access to care, culture, communication and decision-making all contribute to disparities, said Elizabeth Howell, professor of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive science and director of the Women’s Health Institute at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Still, the problem is often attributed incorrectly solely to poverty, she said. “Everyone always wants to say that it’s just about access to care and it’s just about insurance, but that alone doesn’t explain it,” said Dr. Howell, whose research focuses on quality of care and racial and ethnic disparities in maternal and child health.

- Elizabeth Howell, MD, MPP, Professor, Population Health Science and Policy, Psychiatry, Schizophrenia, Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Science, Associate Dean, Academic Development, Director, Women’s Health Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

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