Two Childbirth-Related Deaths at Mass. Hospital Spark State Investigation

gma.yahoo.com...

After two women died shortly after childbirth, state officials have launched an investigation into the hospital where the two women were treated.
Colleen Celia, 32, died on Jan. 15 shortly after giving birth to her fourth child at the South Shore Hospital in Weymouth, Mass., authorities said, and Christie Lee Fazio died on Dec. 14 after giving birth to a baby boy at the hospital.
The deaths have prompted an automatic investigation into the hospital by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. In a statement, the agency said the investigation was “standard protocol” due to the rarity of childbirth-related deaths and the fact that they happened within weeks of one another. The hospital has launched its own review of the two cases, officials said.

According to the article, this hospital is designated by the Massachusetts Department of Health as a level III program that can provide advanced care to women with high-risk pregnancies.

So, what happened?

According to a report by the Boston Herald, Celia died from an amniotic fluid embolism, where amniotic fluid enters the mother’s bloodstream, and Fazio, 30, from complications from a cesarean section. Calls to their families to confirm the report were not immediately returned. The hospital could not confirm the cause of death, citing patient privacy laws.

Two women dying within weeks of one another sounds a little suspicious to me.

There was an old midwife that delivered babies in the area where I grew up, and she only had one mother die during the 59 years she offered her services. She delivered over 2,000 babies!! And even then, she told the mother she would die if she didn't go to the hospital, but the woman refused due to religious beliefs.

Anyway... it just seems to me that if this old woman could keep the mothers and babies alive with that many births, having only her hands and knowledge as her "tools", surely an ADVANCED hospital could do better.

I know, sometimes things happen, but... TWO deaths in a month? I thought the medical field had this childbirth thing figured out a long time ago!

What do you think?

They take in high risk pregnancies, so that makes it less suspicious. One was a C-section, which always carries a risk, so again less suspicious. Seems like a normal, tragic, event, still tragic.

reply to post by OccamsRazor04



it is a high risk hospital so just may be an unfortunate coincidence...but probably a good thing that they investigate just to be sure....I wonder what complication the c section lady had and what would cause the amniotic fluid to go where it went and caused an embolism... will see when more details come out..

reply to post by research100


Yes the investigation needs to occur, but nothing really seems out of place here. Very sad though.

research100
reply to post by OccamsRazor04

 

it is a high risk hospital so just may be an unfortunate coincidence...but probably a good thing that they investigate just to be sure....I wonder what complication the c section lady had and what would cause the amniotic fluid to go where it went and caused an embolism... will see when more details come out..

I have not read up on this at all yet but I was wondering what makes it a high-risk facility? I am concerned for a few personal reasons including the fact that I was born there some 40 years ago. My parents still live just over a mile away in Braintree and I have a lot of nieces and nephews that have been born there recently with another sister just informing me of her new pregnancy, there may be at least one more if she doesn't got to Quincy City Hospital instead.

I live out of state now but this caught my eye. I will be reading up on this and prompting my sister, who has had a few other successes there, to do the same.

Do you have any personal insight to add or will I find it in the news articles already out there?

thanks
-EVC

reply to post by evc1shop


By high risk I mean that if someone has complications they will not go to a regular hospital, they will go to one that is certified to handle the problems. So the hospital is not inherently risky, but they tend to get patients who are at risk. The more complications a patient has, the riskier any procedure, including childbirth.

I urge anyone to watch 'the business of being born' - the whole thing is on youtube, it's downright terrifying the rates of infant mortality in the US. I couldn't believe that around 8% of births in the US have a midwife, all the rest are OBs. Birth should not be so medicalised. I feel for the families of these women.

reply to post by bkaust


Why is it so terrifying? 1 out of every 200 births is not terrifying. Most of that is due to preterm births. Remove pre-term births and the US jumps way up. 1/3 of all US infant deaths are from preterm births, and we have over twice as many as Japan (who has the lowest IMR). Infant mortality is not what the OP is about though.

OccamsRazor04
reply to post by evc1shop

 

By high risk I mean that if someone has complications they will not go to a regular hospital, they will go to one that is certified to handle the problems. So the hospital is not inherently risky, but they tend to get patients who are at risk. The more complications a patient has, the riskier any procedure, including childbirth.

Got it, thanks!
That puts my mind at ease a bit and will stop me from calling all of my siblings like a lunatic.