Community & Public Health

Much of rural Texas is a maternity care desert with few doctors to deliver babies. In some other states, licensed midwives fill in to handle uncomplicated births. But roadblocks limit their practice here.

Women's and Maternal Health, Health Insurance and Costs, Healthcare Regulation and Reform, Patient Safety and Ethics

Two Texas hospitals performed episiotomies at rates four to six times the recommended level last year. But women giving birth should know: You have the final say.

Women's and Maternal Health, Healthcare Regulation and Reform, Patient Safety and Ethics

Whether a woman delivers by cesarean has less to do with her health than the hospital she goes to. Case in point: Doctors Hospital of Laredo, where rates of surgical intervention during childbirth are way above the norm. Experts say something isn’t right.

Women's and Maternal Health, Healthcare Regulation and Reform, Community Safety, Patient Safety and Ethics

This story was produced by Ida Mojadad, a participant in the 2019 Data Fellowship, who is investigating the efficacy of the health access program Healthy SF in San Francisco.

Her other stories include:
Workers may get cash payout from medical reimbursement accounts
Millions left sitting in medi

Race and Equity, Poverty and Class, Health Insurance and Costs, Healthcare Regulation and Reform, Community Safety, Patient Safety and Ethics