Published 3 April 20267 August 2026

Maternal Health

An Investigative Journalism Bureau analysis found Ontario health-care providers are often failing to learn important lessons from tragic childbirth deaths and injuries.

A decade of Ontario coroner’s reports analyzed by the IJB shows the same red flags appear again and again: medical practitioners aren’t sharing vital information; patients aren’t being adequately monitored; and strained resources are undermining life-saving care.

Mothers are suffering injury, death during childbirth in Canada. Here’s why it still happens

A review of a decade of Ontario coroner’s reports shows the same observations cropping up again and again. Medical practitioners aren’t sharing vital information; patients aren’t being adequately monitored; and strained resources are undermining life-saving care. These circumstances can set the stage for tragedy.

Canada is terrible at tracking maternal deaths

The IJB found Canadian women are dying preventable pregnancy-related deaths and experiencing other adverse effects in childbirth. And Canada is bad at tracking maternal deaths. In fact, while data show a doubling in the maternal mortality rate for the decade ending in 2024, many experts think that reflects improvements in record-keeping rather than a dramatic rise in deaths.

Maternal deaths are tragic, but they are only part of the story

As a perinatal epidemiologist, I spend much of my time studying severe complications of pregnancy and childbirth. And while maternal deaths are among the most serious outcomes we can measure, they represent only a small fraction of the burden that pregnancy-related illness places on individuals, families, and health systems.

We’re not counting every maternal death – and it threatens even more lives

Traditionally, maternal mortality refers to deaths that occur during pregnancy or within 42 days after its end and are directly or indirectly related to pregnancy. This definition remains essential; it captures many of the most feared complications of pregnancy and childbirth, allows us to track trends over time, and facilitates comparisons across jurisdictionYet our current definition draws an arbitrary boundary six weeks after birth: health consequences of pregnancy can occur after this narrow postpartum window.