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11 months ago
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The family of a Brooklyn, NY woman who mysteriously passed away after giving birth has filed a $42 million lawsuit against the hospital.
Christine Fields, 30, died after giving birth at Woodhull Hospital last month, and her family are now demanding damages, claiming the hospital committed malpractice.
The family filed a $42 million lawsuit against the institute on Thursday, with Fields' mother Denene Witherspoon speaking of her heartbreak.
Speaking earlier this week at a press conference, Witherspoon said: 'That was my heart.
'She made me so proud, and now I don't have that in my life anymore. Now, I have to help raise three kids that don't have a mother.'
Christine Fields, 30, died after giving birth at Woodhull Hospital last month, and her family is now demanding damages
The family has alleged that her death was due to hospital staff not properly performing an emergency C-section and monitoring her post surgery.
New York Daily News reported that Fields had objected to the cesarean birth, and was conscious and responsive after the baby was born.
Fields then went into cardiac arrest the next day after the C-section, and according to one of the family's attorneys there was pooling blood.
Attorney Ira Newman told PIX11: 'Her baby’s heart rate drops, and there’s fetal distress.
'She’s rushed in for a C-section, and we are investigating and have learned from the [medical examiner’s] office that there was pooling blood.'
Blood pooling occurs when the blood is unable to pump back to the heart and collects in the extremities.
Witherspoon added: 'I miss my daughter so much, and I need to know what happened to my daughter.
'My daughter was healthy, my daughter was 30, my daughter did everything right.
'She had had a birthing plan. Nothing was followed according to her birthing plan, and now I don’t have my child, and it just hurts so much.'
Fields leaves behind three children, including her newborn baby and her fiancé Jose Perez, who has spent the last two weeks trying to piece together this nightmare.
Fields' mother Denene Witherspoon spoke at a press conference of her heartbreak over her daughters death, Fields' fiance Jose Perez is seen on the right side of Witherspoon
Fields leaves behind three children, including her newborn baby and her fiancé Jose Perez, who is she seen here with her
Speaking to New York Daily News, Perez said: 'We were looking forward to a wedding this year, but she ended up pregnant and we put it on hold.'
Wiping away tears, Perez added: 'We just thought it was going to be a regular birth like the first, second kid.'
The family of Fields is now awaiting the results of an autopsy to determine a cause of death.
Family attorney Sanford Rubinstein said: 'Three children, ages 3, 5 and a newborn infant, will now be raised without a mother.
'This is tragic. This family had no reason to think this wasn't going to be a healthy childbirth.'
A spokesperson for NYC Health + Hospitals told PIX11: 'The health and safety of our patients is our highest priority, and we express our sincere condolences to those affected by this tragic loss.
The family launched a $42 million lawsuit against Woodhull Hospital, seen here, following her death
'NYC Health + Hospitals has a steadfast commitment to providing quality, dignified, culturally responsive care to all New Yorkers without exception.
'We will continue to make advances to protect the safety and health of new mothers and address the national crisis of high rates of maternal mortalities.'
DailyMail.com has approached Woodhull Hospital directly for comment on the case.
This new suit against Woodhull Hospital comes after an anesthesiologist at the facility was probed over the death of Sha-Asia Washington in July 2020.
Washington died of cardiac arrest just two hours after delivering a healthy baby girl, Khloe, via C-section at Woodhull Hospital in Bedford-Stuyvesant in July 2020.
Dr. Dmitry Shelchkov, then working as an anesthesiologist at Woodhull, 'deviated from medically acceptable standards' when he administered an epidural to Washington.
Sha-Asia Washington, 26 (left), died after undergoing a C-section in Brooklyn in July 2020. Dr Dmitry Shelchkov, 60 (right), who was Washington's anesthesiologist, had his license suspended in March pending an investigation by health officials
According to a state medical review reported on by the New York Times earlier this year, Shelchkov botched the routine procedure.
The outlet reported that when delivering anesthesia, Shelchkov should have gone four inches into her lower back with a catheter, but inserted 13 inches instead.
Shelchkov also administered a full dose of anesthesia, and failed to wait and see how Washington reacted to a small test dose.
In the days after her death, Washington's loved ones and maternal health activists staged a rally outside Woodhull Hospital in Brooklyn, demanding justice for the young mother.
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