الفهرس 
INTRODUCTION AND AIM OF THE WORK
AIM OF THE WORKOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
 |  | from | 124 |  |  |
| | | from | 124 | | |
Abstract
In obstetric practice, most allegations against obstetrician-gynecologists relate in some manner to the management of labor and delivery; few solely involve perceived flaws in prenatal or postpartum care.
Maternal mortality (or death) is defined as, ”the death of a woman while pregnant or within 42 days of termination of pregnancy, irrespective of the duration or the site of pregnancy, from any cause related to or aggravated by the pregnancy or its management but not from accidental or incidental causes”
So, the present study aimed to evaluate the incidence and causes of maternal deaths in women delivered at Al-Azhar university hospital during a 6 months period in 2013 and to evaluate the role of medical malpractice leading to maternal death in women delivered in the period extending from 2005 to 2010 in Assiut Governorate as documented by the local medicolegal department of the Ministry of Justice.
In the current study, Among 2556 women delivered in a 6 months period, 2 women died with a maternal mortality rate of 0.078 % and a maternal mortality ratio of 78 / 100000 live birth.
Regarding the reported causes of maternal mortality, we found that antepartum hemorrhage and postpartum hemorrhage were the reported causes in one case for each.
In the present study, we also studied 50 maternal deaths referred to local medicolegal department of the Ministry of Justice due to medicolegal claims.
In the studied women, chronic hypertension was the most commonly reported morbidity (20.0 %) followed by severe anemia (18.0 %), DM (8.0 %), epilepsy (2.0 %) and DVT (2.0 %).
In the present study, more that two thirds of them (68.0 %) had antenatal care while the remainder (32.0 %) didn’t receive it.
Regarding the neonatal outcome in the studied women, we found that in 34 cases (68.0 %), women delivered a living mature baby while in 15 cases (30.0 %), fetal death occurred and in 1 case (2.0 %) the delivered newborn was macrosomic.
In respect to the type of liability in the studied women, we found that in all cases, there was a civil liability.
In our study, negligence was the commonest cause (42.0 %) followed by misdiagnosis (30.0 %) and delayed treatment (28.0 %).
As regards the qualification of the service provider, we noted that those with master qualification came in the top (52.0 %) followed by GPs (18.0 %) and Diploma holders (12.0 %). In addition we found that In 44.0 of cases delivery took place in governmental hospital, while in 32.0 % of cases was in health unit and in 24.0 % of cases was in private clinic.
In our study, surgical specialties accounted for 31.0 % of claims followed by obstetrics (25.0 %), anesthesia (17.5 %), internal medicine (14.5 %) and pediatrics (12.0 %).