Why can’t birth certificates be used to track birth defects?
Many studies have shown that birth defects are severely under-reported on birth certificates. Many defects are not identified on the birth certificate because they are not recognizable at birth. In addition, it was found that the hospital staff member who completes the birth certificate is often untrained to gather pertinent information from medical records. In a small sample of Minnesota hospitals, it was found that only 30.5% of the birth certificates were accurate when compared to the medical records.
