Death while pregnant

[James_ffemt]

Just wondering if anyone has had this situation before.? If so, what did you do, etc.

[BushyFromOz]

Just wondering if anyone has had this situation before.? If so, what did you do, etc.

I took out my leatherman and performed a c-section on the spot

wait wait......Im dying and im pregnant? :shock:

[medic001918]

Just a suggestion, but you might want to post some more information regarding your scenario. The question you posted is rather vague and the answer depends greatly on the situation that the death occurs as well as also having questions about the pregnancy itself. If it's a multiple patient event (such as an MVC), and you don't have enough resources and mom is dead, then she's going to stay that way. You can't not treat other viable patients because mom is pregnant. If mom is the only patient, then you could transport mom in hopes of the hospital performing an emergency c-section and saving the baby. Also, it depends on how far along mom is in the pregnancy to determine if the baby would be viable anyway.

You really need to give more detail and thought to your question before we can really answer it. Otherwise, it's purely speculation.

Shane

NREMT-P

[BEorP]

Haven't you ever watched Saved? That will answer all of your questions.

[Dustdevil]

You mean like Lacy Peterson?

[James_ffemt]

This was just a general question. No scenario. Nothing happened. Just wanted some genuine feedback on this topic.

[BEorP]

I usually do CPR on dead people... unless of course they are dead dead... but that's just me.

[Dustdevil]

I usually do CPR on dead people... unless of course they are dead dead... but that's just me.

Yes, this is one situation where a screaming run to the ER with your traumatic adult CPR is actually probably justified.

About twenty years ago, a medic I know made the scene of an apartment fire. Firemonkeys had already dragged dead female out and covered her up with a blanket. Told the medic crew she was dead, and nothing more. Rather than stand there and wank it over the big fire, the medic went over and looked under the blanket to find a full term female. Hauled ass to the hospital with her, and the kid is likely a healthy adult today.

I don't know what the statistics are on this sort of thing. And if anybody has any, I'd sure be interested in seeing them. But from a purely anecdotal standpoint, I'd say you have to give this situation that little extra bit of effort, just like the cold water drowning.

[medic001918]

Yes, this is one situation where a screaming run to the ER with your traumatic adult CPR is actually probably justified.

About twenty years ago, a medic I know made the scene of an apartment fire. Firemonkeys had already dragged dead female out and covered her up with a blanket. Told the medic crew she was dead, and nothing more. Rather than stand there and wank it over the big fire, the medic went over and looked under the blanket to find a full term female. Hauled ass to the hospital with her, and the kid is likely a healthy adult today.

I don't know what the statistics are on this sort of thing. And if anybody has any, I'd sure be interested in seeing them. But from a purely anecdotal standpoint, I'd say you have to give this situation that little extra bit of effort, just like the cold water drowning.

I do agree that this situation warrants a bit more effort that the traditional cardiac arrest, but the overall scenario comes into play. Would you give this patient higher priority than other critical patients (who are not in arrest) on the same scene? I'm thinking that I would still have to treat the viable living instead of the hopeful dead. It would be a tough call to say the least. And I can't say 100% for sure what I would do (since at this point I'm speculating) since I haven't been tossed into that particular scenario yet. It's something to think about and discuss.

Shane

NREMT-P

[ERDoc]

Yes, this is one situation where a screaming run to the ER with your traumatic adult CPR is actually probably justified.

About twenty years ago, a medic I know made the scene of an apartment fire. Firemonkeys had already dragged dead female out and covered her up with a blanket. Told the medic crew she was dead, and nothing more. Rather than stand there and wank it over the big fire, the medic went over and looked under the blanket to find a full term female. Hauled ass to the hospital with her, and the kid is likely a healthy adult today.

I don't know what the statistics are on this sort of thing. And if anybody has any, I'd sure be interested in seeing them. But from a purely anecdotal standpoint, I'd say you have to give this situation that little extra bit of effort, just like the cold water drowning.

Dust, here's a little blurb from emedicine with some info on the statistics:

Providing reliable estimates of maternal and neonatal outcome from this rare and catastrophic event is virtually impossible. The American literature primarily contains case reports and very small series. The United Kingdom previously included some data in the Confidential Enquiry into Maternal Deaths, but, as the name suggests, the registry applied only to cesarean deliveries in which the mother did not survive. Also, this database was dissolved on March 31, 2003.

When active, the Confidential Enquiry into Maternal Deaths noted that from 1994-1996, 13 deliveries occurred that were classified as either postmortem or perimortem. Of these, only 2 babies were born alive, and one of them died shortly thereafter. The registry strongly supports the concept of rapid choice for delivery because the outcomes in the group labeled "perimortem" (patient moribund or undergoing cardiopulmonary resuscitation) were significantly better than those in the group labeled "postmortem" (patient thought to have already expired) (Whitten, 2000). In 10 years, 40 perimortem deliveries were registered, of which 25resulted in neurologically intact surviving infants (62.5%).

Here's link to the full article http://www.emedicine.com/med/topic3398.htm