From the AHAP Blog: Joint Commission issues new Sentinel Event Alert
The Joint Commission announced its latest Sentinel Event Alert, Preventing Maternal Death. This alert acts as a follow up to a previous alert examining death and injury of newborns, addressing “the equally tragic loss of mothers,” the official report states.
This alert is the first of 2010 and the 44th since The Joint Commission began issuing them in 1998. The alert highlights maternal death in the U.S. as a serious problem to which hospitals and caregivers should be paying more attention t, although it is rare.
Unfortunately, there seems to be few standard practices that these parties can take to prevent maternal death simply because the reasons that pregnant women may die are numerous and related to differing conditions of the patient. Maternal death is defined as death that occurs within 42 days of birth or termination of pregnancy.