Brooklyn family sues NYC hospital for $42 MILLION after ‘healthy’ mother of three mysteriously dies in childbirth when doctors insisted she have a C-section against her will
The family of a Brooklyn, NY woman who died mysteriously after giving birth has filed a $42 million lawsuit against the hospital.
Christine Fields, 30, died last month after giving birth at Woodhull Hospital, and her family are now seeking damages, claiming malpractice at the hospital.
The family filed a $42 million lawsuit against the institute on Thursday, with Fields' mother Denene Witherspoon speaking out about her heartbreak.
Earlier this week, Witherspoon said at a press conference: “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 children who don't have a mother.'
Christine Fields, 30, died after giving birth at Woodhull Hospital last month, and her family are now seeking compensation
The family has claimed that her death was due to hospital staff not properly performing an emergency caesarean section and monitoring her post-operatively.
Daily news from New York reported that Fields had objected to the cesarean section and was conscious and responsive after the baby was born.
Fields went into cardiac arrest the next day after the C-section, and one of the family's attorneys said there was a pool of blood.
Attorney Ira Newman said PIX11: 'Her baby's heart rate is decreasing and there is evidence of fetal distress.
“She was rushed in for a C-section, and we are investigating and were told by the (medical examiner's office) that there was a pool of blood.”
Blood congestion occurs when blood is unable to pump back to the heart and pools 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 was doing everything right.
'She had had a birth plan. Nothing was followed according to her birth plan, and now I don't have my child, and it just hurts so much.”
Fields is survived by 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 news conference about her heartbreak over her daughter's death. Fields' fiancée Jose Perez can be seen to the right of Witherspoon
Fields is survived by three children, including her newborn and her fiancé Jose Perez, seen here with her
Speak with Daily news from New YorkPerez said, “We were looking forward to a wedding this year, but she turned out to be pregnant and we postponed it.”
Perez wiped away tears and added, “We just thought it was going to be a normal birth, just like the first, second child.”
Fields' family is now awaiting the results of an autopsy to determine the cause of death.
Family attorney Sanford Rubinstein said, “Three children, ages 3.5 and a newborn baby, will now be raised without a mother.
'This is tragic. This family had no reason to believe that this would not be a healthy birth.”
A spokesperson for NYC Health + Hospitals told PIX11, “The health and safety of our patients is our highest priority, and we extend our sincere condolences to those affected by this tragic loss.
The family launched a $42 million lawsuit against Woodhull Hospital after her death, seen here
“NYC Health + Hospitals is continually committed to providing high-quality, dignified, culturally responsive care to all New Yorkers, without exception.
“We will continue to make progress to protect the safety and health of new mothers and address the national crisis of high maternal mortality.”
DailyMail.com has contacted Woodhull Hospital directly for comment on the case.
This new lawsuit against Woodhull Hospital comes after an anesthesiologist at the facility was questioned about Sha-Asia Washington's death 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 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 cesarean section in Brooklyn in July 2020. Dr. Dmitry Shelchkov, 60 (right), Washington's anesthesiologist, had his license suspended in March pending an investigation by health officials
According to a state medical review reported by the New York Times earlier this year, Shelchkov bungled the routine procedure.
The outlet reported that when administering anesthesia, Shelchkov should have gone four inches into her lower back with a catheter, but instead inserted 12 inches into her lower back.
Shelchkov also administered a full dose of anesthesia and did not wait to see how Washington responded to a small test dose.
In the days after her death, Washington's loved ones and maternal health activists organized a rally outside Woodhull Hospital in Brooklyn, demanding justice for the young mother.