A Detroit grandmother is seeking answers after her daughter died after giving birth to her 12th child.
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Nikita Washington traveled to Harper University Hospital alone in December and gave birth to a healthy baby boy by c-section. According to PEOPLE, Washington traveled to the hospital alone because her husband was incarcerated, and she died the next day due to complications from the procedure. Washington died due to postpartum hemorrhage and complications from several Cesarean sections, according to the Wayne County Clerk.
However, her mother, Patricia Pouncy, explained to Fox2Detroit that she didn’t receive any information from the hospital and only received the death certificate. Additionally, the family is still waiting for autopsy results. “If she died naturally, I want to know. If one of them doctors did something, I wanna know that too. I’m hurt, I’m confused,” she said.
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Pouncey is now raising her 12 grandchildren, aged three months to 19. Although she feels stuck raising the children, Pouncey said she would continue fighting to keep them together and feels her home is too small to raise 12 children.
“I’m just stuck right now. I have all 12 of her kids right now with me, so I got to get a bigger house because my house is too small.”
Pouncey’s position has sparked discussion on social media about how her daughter’s health was overlooked and the financial challenges her mother may face while raising her 12 grandkids.
I love all the people who would vote to ban abortion, birth control, and access to prenatal care, all at the same time shaming this mother for having 12 children.
— catherine (@catseurat) April 17, 2023
Where are the thoughts and prayers for a woman losing her life after giving birth and her remaining children? Where are the prolife advocates? It proves once you’ve outside of the womb your life isn’t important to their agenda any longer.
— LeeLeeJay (@LeeLeeJay26) April 17, 2023
Heartbreaking💔 I gave birth several days before her. During this, I didn’t feel like staff were acknowledging my concerns and didn’t even care. I’ve heard this from other moms too. This lack of concern is deadly.
— Lexi (@oglex25) April 17, 2023
A GoFundMe was launched to help support Pouncey and the funeral expenses used to bury her daughter. Currently, the page has reached $100,000.
There is a significant racial disparity in maternal mortality rates in the United States, with Black women experiencing much higher maternal mortality rates than women of other races. According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the maternal mortality rate for Black women in the United States was 44 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2018, which is more than two and a half times higher than the rate for white women (17 deaths per 100,000 live births) and nearly three times higher than the rate for Hispanic women (16 deaths per 100,000 live births).
It’s important to note that maternal mortality rates can vary depending on various factors, including access to healthcare, socioeconomic status, and pre-existing health conditions, among others. However, the racial disparity in maternal mortality rates is consistent across all income and education levels and is a complex issue that requires further attention and action to address.