This TED Talk features maternal health reformer Elizabeth Howell, recorded live at TEDMed 2018.

It was chaos as I got off the elevator. I was coming back on duty as a resident physician to cover the labor and delivery unit.

And all I could see was a swarm of doctors and nurses

hovering over a patient in the labor room. They were all desperately trying to save a woman's

life. The patient was in shock. She had delivered a healthy baby boy a few hours before I arrived.

Suddenly, she collapsed, became unresponsive, and had profuse uterine bleeding.

By the time I got to the room, there were multiple doctors and nurses, and the patient was lifeless.

The resuscitation team tried to bring her back to life, but despite everyone's best efforts,

she died. What I remember most about that day was the father's piercing cry.

It went through my heart and the heart of everyone on that floor.

This was supposed to be the happiest day of his life,

but instead, it turned out to be the worst day.

I wish I could say this tragedy was an isolated incident, but sadly, that's not the case.

Every year in the United States, somewhere between 700 and 900 women die from a pregnancy-related cause.

The shocking part of this story is that our maternal mortality rate is actually higher than all other high-income countries,

and our rates are far worse for women of color.

Our rate of maternal mortality actually increased over the last decade,

while other countries reduced their rates.

And the biggest paradox of all,

we spend more on health care than any other country in the world.

Well, around the same time in residency

that this new mother lost her life,

...