Centering Stories in Maternal Mortality Review: The Role of Informant Interviews in Comprehensive Case Review

Maternal mortality review committees (MMRCs) play a critical role in identifying factors contributing to pregnancy-related deaths and developing recommendations for prevention. Historically, maternal mortality surveillance has relied on sources such as medical records, vital statistics, and hospital documentation. While these sources provide essential clinical information, they often fail to capture the lived experiences and contextual factors that influence maternal health outcomes. This manuscript examines the role of informant interviews as a vital qualitative component of maternal mortality review. These structured, trauma-informed conversations with family members and loved ones following a maternal death provide insight into social, behavioral, and health system factors often absent from medical documentation. Through these narratives, review committees gain a more complete understanding of barriers to care, experiences of discrimination or bias, delays in treatment, and missed opportunities for intervention. Drawing on emerging practices within MMRCs, this paper explores how integrating family narratives into case review strengthens the assessment of pregnancy-relatedness, the identification of contributing factors, and the development of prevention recommendations. Informant interviews help humanize maternal mortality review processes and support more responsive, equity-informed maternal health systems.