There has been a lot of commentary in the news and in medical journals about the problem of maternal mortality - specifically how we are really crappy at tracking it, which makes it really difficult to know if interventions are working or making things worse. In a country with healthcare as advanced as it is in the U.S., this is just stupid. I mean, we could use fancier words, but the bottom line is stupid. 

Today, 2 Docs Talk about maternal mortality, the problems with tracking it, and one place that's done a pretty good job of both tracking and improving the numbers. 

Resources:

That Propublica article we kept referring to.

Obstetrics and Gynecology article about trends and tracking

Identifying Maternal Deaths in Texas

CMQCC Toolkits

WHO's Trends in Maternal Mortality