The idea of publishing the book of caring for pregnant women if they need surgery titled “Non-Obstetric Surgery During Pregnancy” stemmed from realizing that the United States of America is the only developed country that has a higher than average maternal mortality rate in the world.

One of the misunderstandings about pregnant women and how their care would differ from non-pregnant women is the concern about the safety of their fetus. The purpose of the book that we just published is to emphasize that pregnant women are prone to the same diseases or conditions as non-pregnant women. For example, if a woman is pregnant and is involved in a car accident, the management is more conservative by the emergency department with limited x-rays or MRI studies. Or if the woman needs immediate surgery, there would be concern with what would happen to the fetus.

Another example would be if a woman is pregnant and has appendicitis, how she should be managed differently from a woman who is not pregnant. This full book emphasizes on general care for pregnant women acquiring certain trauma or disease. Or for example, infection, appendicitis, or cholecystitis, etc.

Another factor is the high-risk condition about a pregnant woman. If a person has diabetes and becomes pregnant, she automatically becomes a higher risk category and would require certain extra attention over a person who does not have diabetes. Now, if a woman has diabetes and has hypertension and is pregnant and has a gallbladder problem or an appendix problem or is involved in a trauma, then the risk gets exponentially higher.

In this book, we cover all these areas to point out that putting the care of a woman who is pregnant first. At the same time, do not compromise the safety of the fetus.