Global Health Systems 1st Edition by Margie Lovett Scott ,Faith Prather

Exercise 12

Case Scenario
A Complicated Delivery
Adowa is a healthy 26-year-old professional female in the third trimester of her first pregnancy. She has received routine prenatal care since her first month of pregnancy, and mother and unborn child are progressing well. Her husband, Kwabena, is a prominent attorney, his father is also an attorney; Adowa?s parents are both Ghanaian dignitaries. Being persons of substantial financial means, the parents on both sides are excited about the birth of their first grandchild and convince the couple that it would be best if Adowa spends her last two months in a prominent birthing center, generally reserved for only the most affluent. Adowa and Kwabena were initially reluctant because she was feeling well, had thus far had an uneventful pregnancy, and they lived only 20 minutes away from the Korle Bu Hospital, the only fully-equipped medical center in the country. However, after a few days of their parents? urging, and so as not to disappoint them, the couple finally agreed to the birthing center.
Promptly upon reaching 7 months of pregnancy, Adowa was admitted to the birthing center about 40 miles west of their home, the opposite direction of the Korle Bu Hospital. When she reached 8? months pregnancy, Adowa?s parents received a call that she was in labor and they should come right away. Filled with excitement, they left for the birthing center. Adowa had unexpectedly awakened with terrific pain in her abdomen and back, and was in obvious labor; but by the time her parents reached the center their daughter was dead, and the baby had already been rushed to the Korle Bu Medical Center by a private automobile, without oxygen. The only explanation offered the parents was that their daughter died in childbirth. The baby, once at Korle Bu, was stabilized and miraculously did well. Kwabena, having received the call late, was waiting for the parents at Korle Bu. The young husband, along with the entire family, was devastated to learn that his healthy, energetic wife, who had no complaints when he saw her a day ago, was now dead. Kwabena blamed the birthing center, the parents for convincing them to go in the first place, and mostly he blamed himself for not having the courage to go against the wishes of his parents and in-laws. Especially because, as he said, ?She would have had a much better chance had she been at Korle Bu.?
Ironically, money and privilege did not prevent a tragic ending in this situation. What factors do you think account for the wife's death?