The journalists at ProPublica did some excellent digging, with the help of Eleni Tsigas, executive director of the Preeclampsia Foundation, into how popular trusted health sites inform women about one of the most dangerous possible consequences of a pregnancy out there. What they found wasn’t good.
In affluent countries, the condition is highly treatable. Yet in the U.S., preeclampsia accounts for 7.4 percent of maternal deaths, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, killing more than 50 mothers a year — one reason the U.S. has the highest maternal mortality rate in the industrialized world.
Black mothers in particular are at high risk, yet
[MedLine Plus’] main preeclampsia article “does not reflect the latest information,” Tsigas wrote. In addition to the already-noted problems, she cited the article’s suggestion that protein must be present in the urine for a preeclampsia diagnosis to be made. One of the mistakes providers often make is discounting spiking blood pressure and other symptoms because a protein test is inconclusive.
The good news is that some websites have already made changes, although some of the text quoted in the article seems just as potentially ambiguous.
Always remember that if you feel like something is seriously wrong, keep pushing. If you don’t feel like your doctor is listening, and you have the ability to get a new one (or go to a free or specialty clinic), you should. Women’s symptoms are historically more likely to be dismissed. Communicating onset, severity, type of pain, and persistent deviations from normal behavior all help.
On a side note, I can’t help but wonder how upfront “crisis pregnancy centers,” which will readily claim that abortions increase the risk of breast cancer (pregnancy lowers it by affecting estrogen levels, which isn’t the same thing), are about this and other serious complications that can result from carrying a pregnancy to term.
Also, “vesicovaginal fistula” is my least favorite magical term. Brr.
Tired of Politics 
Yes. You are so right. Check out my post to learn just how preventable and treatable preeclampsia is. So infuriating that it gets so little research funding and almost no work is being done to prevent it. https://elenasdailydose.com/2018/10/17/preventing-preeclampsia-part-i-connecting-the-k2-dots/