Res 1085-2025

Whereas, According to the Pregnancy-Associated Mortality in New York City, 2022 report prepared by the New York City (NYC) Maternal Mortality Review Committee (MMRC) in 2025, there were 66 pregnancy-associated deaths in NYC in 2022, with 32 of those deaths confirmed to be pregnancy-related; and Whereas, According to the MMRC, a pregnancy-associated death is a death from any cause during a pregnancy or within one-year from the end of a pregnancy and a pregnancy-related death is a subset of pregnancy-associated deaths, which describes any death during or within one year of a pregnancy that are caused by a pregnancy complication, a chain of events initiated by pregnancy, or the aggravation of an unrelated condition by the pregnancy; and Whereas, According to the MMRC's most recent Pregnancy Associated Five-Year Mortality Report, these 66 deaths appear to suggest an increasing trend, with 50 to 60 birthing people losing their lives in NYC during pregnancy each year between 2016 and 2020; and Whereas, According to the New York State Maternal Mortality Review Board (MMRB), severe maternal morbidity refers to a group of potentially life-threatening complications that arise unexpectedly during childbirth that can result in significant short- or long-term consequences to a woman or pregnant person's health; and Whereas, According to the MMRB's Severe Maternal Morbidity in New York State (2017-2022) report, NYC consistently has the highest severe maternal morbidity rate in New York State and has seen its rate rise from 83.8 cases per 10,000 live births in 2016 to 153.8 cases per 10,000 live births in 2022, an increase of 83.5 percent; and Whereas, According to the New York State Department of Health, the New York Patient Occurrence Reporting and Tracking System (NYPORTS) is a mandatory adverse event reporting system established pursuant to State law; and Whereas, An adverse event, for the purposes of NYPORTS, is an unintended and undesirable development in an individual patient's condition which occurs in a hospital or diagnostic and treatment center; and Whereas, An adverse event may include, but is not limited to, a death, injury, or impairment of bodily function that does not occur in relation to the natural course of an illness, disease, or proper treatment in accordance with generally accepted medical standards, equipment malfunction or equipment user error, or patient suicide, attempted suicide, or self-harm resulting in serious injury; and Whereas, While the definition of adverse event is fairly broad, and while NYPORTS does require reporting on adverse events that occur during the care of pregnant people, the term maternal health, what adverse events should be included within the term adverse maternal health event, and the time frame in which a medical intervention, complication, or other outcome should be considered related to maternal health when conducting research or documenting adverse outcomes are not widely agreed upon; and Whereas, The lack of a standard definition for and general understanding of adverse maternal health event may cause crucial data to be missed or left out of reports on maternal health, leaving policy makers and health care advocates with incomplete information and unable to appropriately address the current maternal health crisis; and Whereas, New York City Health and Hospitals can fill this gap in data and represent the gold standard for reporting by working with NYPORTS and maternal health advocates to standardize the definition of adverse maternal health event, ensuring that this definition covers adverse events at least 30 days post-partum, and reporting each of these events to NYPORTS or otherwise ensuring that such information is made publicly available and easily accessible; now, therefore, be it Resolved, that the Council of the City of New York calls on New York City Health and Hospitals facilities to report adverse maternal health events to NYPORTS based on an expanded and standardized definition of adverse maternal health events, including adverse events at least 30 days post-partum. JN LS 20254 10/24/2025