BREAKING NEWS

Medical student dies during first delivery from rare amniotic fluid embolism; baby boy survives

A 29-year-old woman – a medical student like her husband – died early Thursday morning not long after her baby boy was delivered by cesarean section at Jerusalem’s Shaare Zedek Medical Center. She had arrived at the hospital in her 41st week of pregnancy complaining that she could not feel the fetus’s movements. Obstetricians induced delivery to save the baby.
Within minutes, she showed distress after amniotic fluid from the womb apparently leaked into her bloodstream. This phenomenon, which cannot be predicted or treated, caused clotting of her blood and the collapse of her bodily systems, the SZMC spokeswoman said.
Leading doctors from a variety of specialties rushed to her side and struggled to save her, but they did not succeed. It was her first delivery. The baby is being treated in the hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit.
The hospital immediately reported the tragedy to Health Ministry director-general Prof. Arnon Afek as required and conveyed their sorrow to the family.