Mom died after giving birth ‘when hospital let wound turn septic’,
A woman tragically died after giving birth to her newborn son in Canada, with her grieving husband blaming the hospital for failing to recognize her symptoms or prescribe medication.
Ravinder Kaur Sidhu, 40, and her husband Gurinder Sidhu, 35, had traveled to Credit Valley Hospital in Mississauga, Ontario and had their baby boy on June 19.
According to Gurinder, there was no issues with the delivery of their child. The only complication came in the form of a tear in his wife’s vagina that required stitches.
Just days later, Ravinder died from postpartum sepsis following multi-organ failure.
Gurinder told CTV he believes the death of his wife could have been prevented if her symptoms were properly addressed by health-care professionals.
He recalled to the outlet how his wife broke out in a fever and shakes, before she started vomiting and complained of pain in her pelvic area.
According to Gurinder, doctors conducted a blood test but not the type necessary type to determine if bacteria was collecting in her blood stream.
‘They should have administered broad-based antibiotics while you wait for the blood culture test and whatever comes in the blood culture, then you do the targeting antibiotics, but nothing was done in our case and the whole day was wasted,’ he said.
Gurinder said his wife went without any antibiotics for around 30 hours after her first symptoms appeared.
Doctors told him they first believed her pain was caused by giving birth, but then changed their stance after suspecting she had sepsis.
Gurinder said that doctors even suggested her infection came from an acupuncture treatment she received days before the birth, despite the tear to her vagina.
The infection severely damaged his wife’s uterus and started to spread down her leg as it went unchecked.
On June 21, she underwent a surgery to remove infected tissue from her leg as she developed necrotizing fasciitis, a flesh-eating disease.
Following the surgery, Gurinder said doctors determined her leg was the primary source of her pain but hours after she was rushed in for a hysterectormy.
Medical teams discovered her ovaries and uterus were ‘completely necrotic’ while doing so, he told the outlet.
On June 22, she was then taken to Sunnybrook Health Sciences Center where she given a blood bypass. She died in the early hours of June 23.
‘We have been devastated. Whatever we built in our lives has gone,’ Gurinder said.
‘She was the center of our universe for our kids.’
He has been left to care for their three kids, two sons and a daughter, who are all under the age of eight.
‘She was involved in every single step’, he said, telling the outlet he is now looking to sell their businesses to support his family. His late wife ran three three physiotherapy clinics.
Gurinder has filed complaints against Credit Valley Hospital, raising it with Canadian regulatory board the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario.
‘All those who are involved should be held accountable/ When a patient is in such a state and nobody cared, and she was ignored, totally ignored, like, what was happening to her,’ he added.
‘And if this is not killing, then what it is, they did nothing. They waited – just for a simple $2 antibiotics – they waited for 30 hours.’
Trillium Health Partners, who oversee Credit Valley, called her passing a ‘profound loss’.
‘We take the concerns raised by our patients and families very seriously,’ a statement said.
‘As part of our commitment to the highest standards of care, we have a thorough review process led by an interdisciplinary team of clinical experts.
‘Questions about symptom recognition, signs of illness, treatment timelines, and transfer decisions are at the very heart of our review process. We ensure these are addressed directly with patients and families.’
An investigation into her passing is now underway and is expected to be completed in the coming months.
