Thread by @ProPublica

1/ @serenawilliams nearly died after giving birth to her daughter Olympia. She identified her own symptoms of potentially deadly complications and told the doctors what she needed before it was too late.
vogue.com/article/serena…

2/ Her interview w/ @Vogue echoed what we’ve learned in our series investigating maternal complications and death.
propub.li/2CNRUmu

3/ Not unlike the mothers we’ve written about, for Williams, the weeks that followed included multiple postpartum complications.
propub.li/2CZbH5D

4/ Some mothers don’t make it. About 700-900 women die each year from maternal complications. One study found that 60% are preventable.@AnnieWaldman detailed the loss of new mothers due to pulmonary embolism—the same condition that nearly killed Serena.
propub.li/2CXr926

5/ Dacheca Fleurimond gave birth at a Brooklyn, NY, hospital. Like Williams, she was at very high risk for blood clots. Less than two days after her delivery, she died from an embolism, leaving behind 7 children: propub.li/2CXr926

6/ Tanesia Walker was 31 years old when she died in the same hospital after giving birth in November 2017. This is her son. The hospital where she gave birth has one of the highest complication rates in New York state. propub.li/2CXr926

7/ In New York, black women like Tanesia and Dacheca are 12 times more likely to die in childbirth than white women. propub.li/2CXr926

8/ We went to the funeral of Tanesia Walker. Her family is haunted by her death. They can't stop thinking, why her? propub.li/2CXr926

9/ This issue isn’t just in New York. Racial disparities in maternal health is a national problem. Overall, black women are 243% more likely to die from pregnancy- or childbirth-related causes than white women are. propublica.org/article/nothin…

10/ The latest episode of @NPR’s @CodeSwitch podcast features the story of Shalon Irving, a CDC epidemiologist who died three weeks after the birth of her daughter Soleil: npr.org/podcasts/51031…

11/ For black women, lifelong exposure to racial discrimination causes toxic stress that wears away at their health and makes pregnancy and childbirth more dangerous. Michigan researcher Arline Geronimus calls this process “weathering.”

12/ Meanwhile, unconscious bias is rife throughout the US medical system, which is haunted by a history of slavery and segregation. We detailed some of this history with @Vox:

13/ Again, it’s estimated that up to 60% of maternal deaths are preventable. But one way to prevent them is to talk to and learn from the women who have nearly died from these complications. That’s what we did. propub.li/2CYbdwr

14/ We’ve been investigating this for nearly a year. Listening to mothers and families and collecting stories of maternal harm. As of today, we have almost 5,000 contributions from you.

15/ And we continue to ask: Do you know someone who died or nearly died in childbirth? Tell us: propublica.org/getinvolved/he…

*correct tag: @voxdotcom