A new study published Wednesday found that waiting up to one minute after birth before clamping an infant's umbilical cord significantly improves iron stores and hemoglobin levels in newborns and does not pose an increase risks to mothers.
Routinely, doctors clamp and sever the umbilical cord less than one minute after birth. This was historically thought to reduce the risk of maternal hemorrhaging. But apparently the timing of this procedure has been controversial for years, and this new evidence shows that clamping may be happening prematurely.
Newborns with later clamping had higher hemoglobin levels 24 to 48 hours postpartum and were less likely to be iron-deficient three to six months after birth, compared with term babies who had early cord clamping, the analysis found. Birth weight also was significantly higher on average in the late clamping group, in part because babies received more blood from their mothers. (NY Times, Catherline St. Louis, 7/10.)
Increased iron stores in infants could also help reduce learning deficiencies and cognitive delay, which have been linked to iron-deficiency anemia in school-aged children.
School-Administered Plan B
Long before the Obama Administration agreed to allow Plan B One-Step, the "morning-after pill," to become available to all ages without prescription last month, New York City already made the pill available to girls as young as 13 from their school nurse's office.
Through a patchwork of nurses’ offices and independent clinics operating in schools, students can now get free emergency contraceptives like Plan B One-Step in more than 50 high school buildings, generally in neighborhoods with high t eenage pregnancy rates. Girls needing the drug have been able to get it immediately under the supervision of doctors or nurse practitioners with prescribing ability. School clinics began dispensing the pills several years ago, and in the 2011-12 academic year alone, about 5,500 girls received them at school at least once, according to the city’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. (NY Times, Anemona Hartocollis, 7/11.)
13 NYC school participate in the program, which gives parents the option to sign an opt-out form blocking their daughters' access to the pill. Only 3% of parents have signed the form.
Maryland Sharpens Abortion Clinic Oversight
After two surgeons and Johns Hopkins Hospital repaired the damage to an 18-year old woman's uterous from a late-term abortion, they reported Dr. Steven C. Brigham shoddy work to the state medical board. The board then learned Dr. Brigham had faced decades complaints of substandard care for the abortion clinics he ran in several states (and was barred from medical practice in Pennsylvania and New York).
As a result, a bipartisan effort to sharpen oversight of MD abortion clinics came into full effect this year. The oversight includes the state's first licensing system and clinic inspection protocol, which has already improved patient safety while managing to keep costs down, pleasing both sides of the aisle.
Perhaps the reason for the effective oversight is due to the fact that the new rules were negotiated by health officials in consultation with medical groups, clinic managers, and anti-abortion leaders, not by politicians. If the goal is to make abortions safer, hopefully MD can provide a new model for achieving it.
Click HERE for other state regulations of abortion clinics,
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