Opinion | How can we prevent Black maternal deaths? Start by rebuilding trust.

In Maternal Mortality Review Committees, all maternal deaths are reviewed, and one of the first questions that must be answered is whether the death was preventable. Many are. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says a maternal death is “preventable if the committee determines that there was at least some chance of the death being averted by one or more reasonable changes to patient, community, provider, facility, and/or systems factors.” Given this broad definition, deaths that feel dissimilar, such as deaths because of accidents, overdoses, racism or physician neglect, are all grouped together as preventable.