julieturkewitzVerified account

2/We wanted to understand what it is like to give birth in a place where the government refuses to release maternal and infant death statistics. So we — this reporter, with @MeridithKohut @IsayenHG and @surdaneta — followed women to 6 Venezuelan hospitals and 1 across the border.

3/We found Venezuelan hospitals so stripped of the basics — vital sign monitors, sanitation systems, antibiotics — that doctors are sending women from hospital to hospital in a harrowing journey known as the ruleta, or roulette. In the worst cases, they die. Or their babies do.

4/The women and doctors we followed sometimes risked significant punishment to speak with us. We thank them.