The questions below were first posited as to infant deaths as reported as more common among Blacks than Whites. However, most of them apply to evaluating the problem of new-mother deaths as rated by race.
It might be well to include records of prior abortions.
I do wonder if the various reporters and noted agencies considered, without regard to race, the following "hard"data.
1. Age of the mother at the birth of the deceased child;
2. Her age at her first pregnancy;
3. Her age at the birth of her first child;
4. Any history of prior miscarriages, or STDs;
3. Any history of a prior, early death of infants;
5. Was the noted mother using illegal drugs or excessively using alcohol during
pregnancy or at the time of the infant's death;
6. Was the infant living with the mother most of the time between birth and death (If released from the hospital);
7. Was the father of the child living with the mother during the period of the pregnancy and until the death of the child?
8. Did the biological father have a history of substance abuse.
Of course, this data could (Should?) be cross-referenced to race/place-of-birth.
IF PROGRAMS WERE BASED ON "STUDIES"
A. Was there any "self-selection/referral" by the subjects used in the various studies by the noted medical experts OR by the interviewers (Both always a potential source of bias);
. Were standardized questions or interview-protocols used to obtain data in those studies;
B. Were White, Latino, etc, mothers considered in each of the cited studies;
C. Were the studies on a basis of control-vs-experimental groups or multi-factor-matching?
D. What was the level-of-reliability (0.50 = random chance) for those studies; AND,
E. The other standards for valid-and-reliable scientific studies? |
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