Wife of Arizona's State Treasurer dies after childbirth

[DesertRat]

State Treasurer Dean Martin's wife died of complications from childbirth Monday after delivering the couple's first child.

The child, Austin Michael Martin, is in critical condition.

Kerry Martin, 34, had been married to her husband for 13 years.

Austin Martin was born at 7:31 p.m. Monday, weighing 8 pounds and measuring 21.5 inches. Martin spokeswoman Kimberly Yee would not say what complications led to Kerry Martin's death, or what hospital the death occurred.

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2009/05/26/20090526treasurers-wife0526-ON.html

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So sad and shocking that this could happen in this day and age... :(

[babylonsister]

1. Oooh, that's really sad. And you're right, shocking. nt

[musette_sf]

2. sad and shocking indeed

and an object lesson to forced birthers: childbirth is a HUGE medical risk, that one should only endure BY CHOICE.

[DesertRat]

3. Indeed. n/t

[FLyellowdog]

4. So true.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

15. And "natural childbirth" is NOT the BEST for every woman.

I had to have a spinal anesthetic and a C-section. I would have died in the old days, and my child would have too. My ass is too narrow and a normal baby is too big -- doesn't work.

It's not a contest. The goal is a healthy mom and a healthy baby. I don't care about the damn wallpaper in the hospital!

[surrealAmerican]

41. Why do you think this has anything to do with "natural childbirth"?

It is far more likely not to be the issue here.

[uppityperson]

33. yup

[undeterred]

5. Yikes.

I knew of a woman who became nauseated after a drug was administered during labor and she died of asphyxiation.

And there are a few deliveries I know of that were predicted to be routine but ended up needing emergency caesareans. Not every surgery ends well.

How sad it must be for her family.

[aquart]

6. First child after 13 years?

[Bucky]

9. not that unusual. Some couples like to focus on their careers before starting with kids

Judging by their ages, they were college sweethearts.

[cyberswede]

40. 13 years for us, too

We got together at age 21 - weren't ready for kids for a while, and finally had our first son 13 years later. I don't think it's unusual. :)

[DeschutesRiver]

43. My mom had 8 miscarriages first before having me

With complications and all, that ate up quite a few years - I think they waited 5 years, as they married really young (teens) and then another 7-8 years of miscarriages, so that was about 13 years too. I think I was a lucky shot, because next child they adopted instead of going through that again.

Lots of reasons for a wait of that length.

[sandnsea]

7. Happened to a doctor in our town

a few weeks ago. She was married to another doctor. You really don't think of these things happening anymore. Really shook our little town, that whole 6 degrees thing, except more like 2.

[Bucky]

8. How terrible! Here's a video of the couple at Mr Martin's swearing in

http://www.aztreasury.gov/biographies/DMartin.html Apparently sworn in by Sandra Day O'Connor. Deepest condolences

[greatauntoftriplets]

10. How sad.

It seems to be very rare these days, and when it happens you can't help but feel that it shouldn't be happening in the 21st century.

My condolences to the Martin family.

[eridani]

36. Statistical rarity isn't much consolation to those who wind up being one of the statistics

A sad thing all aroundd.

[ChazII]

11. A sad day for our state. n/t

[tavalon]

12. There are a couple of things we still can't stop with all of our technology

Amniotic fluid embolus is one of them. If a woman gets this rare complication, she is in the hands of a higher power. We can do nothing but try to support her failing circulatory system. Some live but most die with that. However, with the baby also being in critical condition, the likelihood is that she had a placenta previa and had a massive hemmorhage followed by disseminated intravascular coagulopathy or DIC. That is another situation where we can replace the blood and actually we save more women than we lose in that situation but DIC puts them in the realm of life or death without regards to our treatment.

Just speculation, though. I worked in labor and delivery for 17 years and these have always been the worst situations for women to be in.

[CTyankee]

42. My daughter develop HELLP Syndrome, an acute form of pre-eclampsia.

Just out of the blue. Suddenly, her platelets were rapidly diminishing and she was rushed into the OR for an emergency C Section. Since her baby was only a couple of weeks premature he was fine. It was close but she was fine, too. There was absolutely NO way we could have known this beforehand...

[tavalon]

47. That's yet another condition that can be life threatening

Luckily, as you learned, there is a cure for that which is delivery of the baby. It isn't an instantaneous cure but with supportive care and delivery of baby, moms rarely die of HELLP, however they are quite ill and sometimes that also turns into DIC and that is as serious as it gets. I'm glad your daughter and her baby were fine.

[BlueIris]

13. Maternal deaths from childbirth are on the rise in this country.

Very sad.

[mnhtnbb]

14. For some info on the reasons for maternal mortality rate increases

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/80743.php

[Xithras]

44. Largely because of the explosion in Cesarean births.

Women having Cesarean births are seven times as likely to have severe complications, and three times as likely to die, as women having vaginal births. The U.S. has a cesarean rate far above the norm for civilized western countries, and they're often done for the convenience doctors and the insurance companies.

If you want to see something really disturbing, watch The Business of Being Born. I'm not an advocate of natural childbirth, and I don't regret the fact that all three of my children were born in hospitals, but watching that movie was an eye opening experience about everything wrong with the way we have babies in this country, how we came to be here, and what pregnant women should do to empower themselves before placing their health in the hands of others.

[tavalon]

48. You are completely, totally right

I am mortified at the number of c-sections the hospital I work at is doing these days. I understand that this is a nationwide trend.

[CTyankee]

51. That is fine, but many women do not want to have pain in childbirth.

They do not consider this to be an "empowerment" issue. They just do not want the pain and do not think they should have it.

I thought I wanted natural childbirth with my first delivery. It was so painful I decided against it for my second and my third. I was glad I did.

Sorry, I had real pain and I did not need anybody telling me I could not have pain relief. And yes, I had natural childbirth training. It was not a deal for me.

[Nikki Stone1]

16. The wife of a state official should have had excellent prenatal and delivery care.

I don't understand someone like that dying in childbirth.

[Horse with no Name]

17. There is inherent risk in childbirth that is conveniently overlooked

and no matter how good the prenatal care, things can always go horrendously wrong in the blink of an eye.:(

[Nikki Stone1]

18. I know, but usually those kinds of deaths come from lack of access to good health care

I wonder what happened to this woman.

(I'm not disagreeing with you, I just don't get it.)

[pnwmom]

23. Women still have strokes, eclampsia, and sudden hemorrhages --

there are significant risks in any pregnancy.

[uppityperson]

34. Things can happen quickly, things can change quickly

there are significant risks in any pregnancy and throughout every pregnancy

[pnwmom]

35. Absolutely. n/t

[Horse with no Name]

28. There is very little info available now and I suspect until the lawsuits

become public, we won't know what happened.
My cousin had a baby in Phoenix. She almost hemorrhaged to death after she went home. She called the OB and made two office visits in two days...he gave her a pill. She lived near Prescott but thought she would get better care in Phoenix. She woke up in the middle of the night and told her husband to get her to the nearest hospital. She went to Prescott. The ER Doctor in the podunk hospital saved her life. She was in surgery within a very small amount of time and after receiving 7 units of blood, she stabilized and is fine now.
She had excellent healthcare coverage and excellent prenatal care with an uncomplicated history of 3 previous births. One of issues in her case was very poor communication between her and the doctor. She relied on word-of-mouth recommendations when she chose her doc. In 9 times out of 10, that works in uncomplicated deliveries. However, in that 1 out of 10 that is complicated, the results can be disastrous if people are recommending solely on bedside manner as opposed to actual skills.

[tavalon]

49. See my previous post about certain conditions that no amount of good prenatal care

can prevent. Blessedly, maternal death is rare these days in developed countries but it does happen.

[Ex Lurker]

20. sometimes bad shit just happens

and there's nothing anybody can do.

[Nikki Stone1]

21. I guess.

I'd really like to know the facts.

[pnwmom]

24. A young woman I know, in excellent health and with full

prenatal care, had a stroke during her first labor. She survived but she has a long road ahead of her.

Life carries risk, even under the best of circumstances.

[Nikki Stone1]

25. How sad.

:(

[pnwmom]

26. I had excellent care and I could have died in childbirth.

I developed an unexpected complication in the third trimester that put me at high risk for the rest of the term. The outcome could easily have gone the other way.

Doctors aren't gods. Bad stuff happens.

[Abecca]

19. OMG

This is horrible. So sad.

[question everything]

22. A sad reminder that continuing with a pregnancy

can carry risks.

[ljm2002]

27. A few years ago...

...a colleague's wife died the day after giving birth to their second and third children (twins -- they already had one child). Everything had gone fine, the babies were healthy, and he was on top of the world. The next day she had a stroke and died.

We certainly do better in this day and age, that's for sure; but giving birth is a very stressful event, and sometimes things go wrong.

How very tragic.

[proteus_lives]

29. Sad.

How terrible. RIP.

I hope the son makes it through.

:cry:

[DesertRat]

38. The baby's condition is now "grave"

What an unfortunate homonym in this situation. :(

[Jennicut]

30. There are lots of risks involved. I discovered I was a diabetic during my second pregnancy

Not terrible and many women can develop much worse conditions but I had to be monitored every week, the babies heart beat had to be checked out every week and I had to be induced early. My first daughter was huge but thankfully with the second one they did realize I was a diabetic. It never went away so I was probably a a pre-diabetic and I had barely passed the glucose tests the first time. Thankfully there were no real issues with my first daughter being born except she got stuck for about a minute or two. I think I was lucky. I am still a diabetic but fairly healthy and there were no issues with my second daughter.
Sometimes complications/health issues just happen.

[proud patriot]

31. Tragic

:(

[libodem]

32. So tragic

I almost lost a dear young friend, last year, when her cardiac vessels literally ripped during child birth. She kept telling people at the hospital that she felt short of breath and her chest hurt. They did a CT scan and missed the damage. She went home. She shouldn't have been able to function at all. Anyway she ended up calling 911 and the ER Doc told her family to say good by to her when she went to surgery. She still might be google-able as 'The Miracle Mom' in Pocatello Idaho. She had a pace maker placed in February. Womens World did a feature on her. So sorry for that other family. You'd think with all the modern medicine this wouldn't happen any more.

[Maru Kitteh]

37. Modern does not equal omnipotent, unfortunately. The human animal is infinitely complex.

Childbirth is, and will probably always be, an extremely dangerous and vulnerable time for woman and baby alike.

[DesertRat]

39. I'm so happy that your friend made it

What a remarkable story.

[libodem]

46. Thanks

She's an awesome young lady. I tried the google and it does work. Just in case anyone wants to see a miracle.

[ensho]

45. there is an area in Wash., D.C. that has no medical help for pregnant women

this is true unless something has changed recently.



women die in childbirth every day in Africa.

not enough Drs., equipment, hosps., clinic. not enough of anything.

[Catherine Vincent]

50. Yes, that is sad.

A family friend died after childbirth. And she was around 20, so that was a big shocker. She died the day after she gave birth. The little girl is around 5 now.

[DesertRat]

52. SAD UPDATE: The baby died last night

Arizona State Treasurer Dean Martin announced today that his newborn son, Austin Michael Martin, has died at Phoenix Children's Hospital.

Austin was born at 7:31 p.m. Monday. Martin's wife, Kerry, died about four hours later due to complications from childbirth.

Martin said he's a believer in transparency, and more details will come out soon about the circumstances of her unexpected death. But he acknowledged all the people, including expectant mothers, who are anxious for details.

“The events that led to Kerry's death are rare. She would not want you to worry. Hug your family.” :cry:

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2009/05/28/20090528martin0528-ON.html

[azmouse]

53. After all he's been through this week for Martin to think of others... wow!

I feel so sorry for him and his family. In such a short time going from happy excitement at the birth of a baby to losing it all.
I don't know how he goes on. Very sad.

[DesertRat]

55. My heart breaks for him and their families

I don't know how he goes on either. Maybe he's in shock. Poor guy.

[shadowknows69]

54. OMG how horrible.