No Result
View All Result
  • Login
Emily CottonTop
  • Home
  • Hair
    • DIY Treatments
    • Hair Care
    • Hair growth
    • Hairstyles
    • Kids Haircare
    • Natural Hair Opinion
    • Products
    • Protective Styles
    • Regimen Advice
  • Beauty
    • Make up
    • Skin Care
    • Wellness
  • Pop Culture
    • Celebrity
    • Celebrity Hair
  • News Stories
  • Business
  • Advertising
  • Home
  • Hair
    • DIY Treatments
    • Hair Care
    • Hair growth
    • Hairstyles
    • Kids Haircare
    • Natural Hair Opinion
    • Products
    • Protective Styles
    • Regimen Advice
  • Beauty
    • Make up
    • Skin Care
    • Wellness
  • Pop Culture
    • Celebrity
    • Celebrity Hair
  • News Stories
  • Business
  • Advertising
No Result
View All Result
Emily CottonTop
No Result
View All Result

A Deadly Epidural, Delivered by a Doctor With a History of Mistakes

Emily Cottontop by Emily Cottontop
January 24, 2023
in News Stories
0

We are not safe! According to NY Times Dr. Dmitry Shelchkov, an anesthesiologist at a public hospital in a predominantly Black neighborhood in Brooklyn, would later say that his job was “straightforward” with “not a lot required.”

But when it came time to give an epidural to Sha-Asia Semple, a pregnant 26-year-old woman in labor, at Woodhull Medical Center on July 3, 2020, Shelchkov botched the routine procedure.

The catheter to deliver the anesthesia should have gone about 4 inches into her lower back. Instead, he kept inserting the line, threading it in and up more than 13 inches, a state medical review board later found.

Then Shelchkov administered a full dose of anesthesia, without waiting to see how Semple responded to a small test dose, according to the state board. The anesthesia landed in her cerebrospinal fluid and circulated around her central nervous system.

“I can’t breathe,” Semple said as her breathing grew labored, before stopping altogether. Another doctor rushed in to help.

“I can’t believe this is happening again,” the doctor screamed at Shelchkov, according to a federal hospital inspection report.

Her baby survived, but Semple did not. It was several weeks after George Floyd’s murder had set off a national reckoning on race, and Semple’s death sparked a demonstration outside the hospital and news coverage about how, in New York City, Black women like Semple are nine times more likely to die of pregnancy-related complications than white women, a much greater disparity than exists nationally.

Many factors contribute to that disparity, but Shelchkov’s career — he was stripped of his medical license in late 2021 — brings one of the factors into focus: large gaps in the quality of medical care at hospitals across the city.

Until now, the specific medical errors that caused Semple’s death have not been publicly reported in detail. Nor has it been reported that in the more than two years before her death, six other pregnant patients in labor at Woodhull “suffered adverse outcomes related to the administration of anesthesia,” according to the hospital inspection report.

In almost all those cases, Shelchkov was apparently involved, according to the report, which did not name him but described errors attributed to him in other documents.

In some instances, he pushed the epidural needle or the catheter that fits through it too far, which resulted in the anesthesia mixing with cerebrospinal fluid rather than remaining in a separate space near nerve roots, according to the report and the state medical review board’s findings.

Such mistakes, though rare, are usually caught quickly and corrected, but Shelchkov sometimes skipped a crucial safety measure — giving a small test dose and waiting to see the patient’s reaction before administering the full dose of anesthesia, a state medical review board found.

Despite the clear pattern, administrators and department heads at Woodhull did little to monitor him, federal hospital inspectors wrote in the report.

The document paints a disturbing picture of dysfunction at Woodhull, part of the city’s public hospital system. Nearly 1,500 women give birth there each year, about 85% of them Black or Hispanic. Under 10% are white. The majority of patients have Medicaid.

When rare complications from epidural anesthesia — which provides pain relief during childbirth — began occurring unusually often at Woodhull, the cases went unreported. Not until a patient died did hospital administrators even notice a pattern.

In a phone interview with The New York Times, Shelchkov said that when something went wrong, the anesthesiologist always made an easy target. “Everyone wanted to present themselves as the hero and that it wasn’t their fault,” he said. He said that Semple’s death and the trauma and exhaustion of working during the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic had left him feeling “devastated.”

In a statement, the city’s public hospital system noted that it had a range of programs aimed at reducing severe maternal morbidity and closing racial disparities. These include extensive emergency simulation programs to train labor and delivery staff, as well as bigger roles for doulas and midwives than exist in many private hospitals. The rate of cesarean deliveries at the city’s public hospitals is lower than the statewide average, a promising indicator.

Each year in New York City, more than 20 women die of pregnancy-related causes, and about 3,000 women nearly die. In 2017 and 2018, most of the women who died were Black.

Experts point to a range of factors to explain this, including a prevalence of underlying medical conditions, a lack of access to prenatal care or good medical insurance, and racial biases. Some providers fail to take some patients’ medical complaints seriously.

But racial disparities in maternal deaths are also linked to the fact that Black women are often more likely than white women to deliver at hospitals with a lower quality of obstetric care, research suggests.

Shelchkov said Semple’s death was the only time someone in his care had died during his four decades of practicing medicine. “I was just devastated,” he said, and described feeling “close to suicide.”

“A baby grows up motherless,” he said.

That baby is now 2. She loves gymnastics class and Silly Putty and slime. Recently, she asked her dad a question that knocked him silent.

“Where’s my mommy?”

Her dad, Juwan Lopez, remembered how excited Semple had been all through her pregnancy. How many times after her death had he shown his daughter maternity photos and the video of the gender reveal, in which Semple let loose all those pink balloons? “Who’s that?,” Lopez would ask. “Mommy,” Khloe would answer.

After a few moments, Lopez, 26, told Khloe that Mommy was in the sky watching over her.

On the night of Khloe’s birth, Lopez was in the room as Semple was dying. No one told him what was happening. “I think they need to watch who they hire,” Lopez said, holding Khloe in his arms.

Tags: Black WomenEpidural
Previous Post

Angela Bassett Is The First Marvel Studios Actor To Be Nominated For A Performance In a Comic Adaptation

Next Post

Erykah Badu Receives Backlash Over Viral Post With Daughter Puma Curry

Next Post

Erykah Badu Receives Backlash Over Viral Post With Daughter Puma Curry

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recent News

Judge Denies Wendy Williams’ Ex Kevin Hunter More Alimony Payments As He Admits To Being Broke

Judge Denies Wendy Williams’ Ex Kevin Hunter More Alimony Payments As He Admits To Being Broke

February 6, 2023
Offset Said Not Today! Seemingly Refutes Report He Fought Quavo At The Grammys

Offset Said Not Today! Seemingly Refutes Report He Fought Quavo At The Grammys

February 6, 2023
Black books

Essential Reading: 6 Hot New Black Books To Read This February

February 6, 2023

About Us

Emily CottonTop is a daily updated blog about hair, beauty, and everyday cultural moments from all over the world.

Follow Us

Editor Picks

Judge Denies Wendy Williams’ Ex Kevin Hunter More Alimony Payments As He Admits To Being Broke

Judge Denies Wendy Williams’ Ex Kevin Hunter More Alimony Payments As He Admits To Being Broke

by emily1phone
February 6, 2023
0

In an exclusive with The Sun, WENDY Williams' divorce judge has shut down her ex...

Offset Said Not Today! Seemingly Refutes Report He Fought Quavo At The Grammys

Offset Said Not Today! Seemingly Refutes Report He Fought Quavo At The Grammys

by Emily Cottontop
February 6, 2023
0

Earlier today reports came out that Quavo and Offset had a fight at the Grammys...

Black books

Essential Reading: 6 Hot New Black Books To Read This February

by Fredrick Ochami
February 6, 2023
0

February, or Black History Month, is the best time to pick up a book from...

Popular Category

  • Culture
  • Celebrity
  • Celebrity Hair
  • News Stories
  • Business
  • Beauty
  • Skin Care
  • Wellness
  • Regimen Advice
  • Culture
  • Celebrity
  • Celebrity Hair
  • News Stories
  • Business
  • Beauty
  • Skin Care
  • Wellness
  • Regimen Advice

© 2022 Emily CottonTop, All Rights Reserved.

  • Home
  • About Us
  • Advertise
  • Privacy Policy
  • Home
  • About Us
  • Advertise
  • Privacy Policy
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Hair
    • DIY Treatments
    • Hair Care
    • Hair growth
    • Hairstyles
    • Kids Haircare
    • Natural Hair Opinion
    • Products
    • Protective Styles
    • Regimen Advice
  • Beauty
    • Make up
    • Skin Care
    • Wellness
  • Pop Culture
    • Celebrity
    • Celebrity Hair
  • News Stories
  • Business
  • Advertising

© 2023 JNews - Premium WordPress news & magazine theme by Jegtheme.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies.
Do not sell my personal information.
Cookie SettingsAccept
Manage consent

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously.
CookieDurationDescription
cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional11 monthsThe cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-others11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
viewed_cookie_policy11 monthsThe cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
Functional
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
Performance
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Analytics
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
Advertisement
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
Others
Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet.
SAVE & ACCEPT