Christine Fields went to Woodhull Hospital in labor in November, but sadly she died after giving birth to her child. And now her family alleges the hospital is in the wrong and has filed a lawsuit claiming medical malpractice.
Fields arrived “at the hospital on Nov. 13.” Purportedly, the hospital told her family that because the “baby’s hear rate was dropping” Fields would need to undergo “an emergency C-section,” News 12 reports.
Initially Fields objected to this decision. Her birth plan did not call for a C-section, and she had planned and prepared to give birth vaginally. Also, her midwife wasn’t on shift that day so was not on hand at the hospital.
Then, “[h]er fiancé says he was removed from the room as she underwent emergency C-section, and the family saw Fields and the newborn alive.” Afterward, the family was then informed about Fields’ death.
Her family has requested that Fields’ medical records be released but the hospital has yet to provide them. An autopsy report is also in the works.
There was a rally in Bed-Stuy last weekend for the deceased Brooklyn resident, where community members demanded answers around how Fields died.
Represented by Sanford Rubenstein, Fields’ family has announced a lawsuit, arguing that the hospital staff improperly performed the C-section and failed to adequately monitor her condition “after the surgery.” They are “seeking $41 million in damages.”
Ira Newman, another attorney representing the Fields family said, “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,” said Newman.
Denene Witherspoon, Fields’ mother is extremely distraught over the loss of her daughter. “That was my heart,” Witherspoon told Pix11 News. “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. 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,” Witherspoon added. “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.”
Following Fields’ death, the NYC Health + Hospitals/Woodhull put out a statement, giving their condolences. It mentions how they possess a “[c]ommitment 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,” continued the statement.
Fields leaves behind her newborn and two other children, along with Jose Perez, her beloved fiancé.
This tragedy occurred three years after Sha-Asia Washington “died during an emergency C-section at the hospital back in 2020.”
Attorneys Newman and Rubenstein are lobbying for New York Governor “Kathy Hochul to pass the Grieving Families Act in hopes of getting swift justice for incidents like this in the future.”