Viet Nam News
BÌNH ĐỊNH — The health department of Bình Định Province yesterday sent a report to the Health Ministry to clarify the cause of a woman’s death after childbirth at the provincial general hospital.
The death was determined to be a result of amniotic fluid embolism, resulting in respiratory distress syndrome and acute circulation collapse, the autopsy result showed.
Lê Quang Hùng, director of the provincial health department, said the woman’s clinical indicators were normal before the sudden amniotic fluid embolism. Patients with amniotic fluid embolism can rarely be saved, according to Hùng.
Relatives of the patient refused to take her body home and did not accept the explanation. They blamed the death on the irresponsibility of the doctors and filed a lawsuit against the hospital.
The hospital has sent the lawsuit document to authorised forces for further investigation, Hùng said.
The newborn girl, still weak and being assisted with a medical ventilator, is under treatment at the hospital’s paediatric department.
Earlier, on October 28, Trương Hồ Thị Lan, 25, a resident of central Bình Định Province’s Quy Nhơn City, was admitted to hospital at 8.30pm to give birth. As per the medical records, Lan was 40 weeks pregnant, and her blood pressure and body temperature were normal.
However, at 2am, she had seizures, started drooling, turned purple and her pulse and blood pressure could not be measured. Doctors decided to perform an emergency Caesarean operation. The surgery was completed successfully, but by 3am Lan was in deep coma. She died four hours later.
According to medical experts, amniotic fluid embolism is a rare obstetric complication but with mortality rate as high as 80-90 per cent. — VNS
