Patient Safety | 05.12.22
Los Angeles Hospital Sued for Racism in Death of Black Mother
by NBC News
Charles Johnson IV, the husband of a Black woman who died hours after childbirth in 2016, is suing Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, charging that she bled to death due to a culture of racism at the hospital. Johnson says he discovered the disparity in care women of color receive at Cedars compared to white women during depositions in his wrongful death lawsuit that's set to go to trial this month. Kira Johnson died nearly 12 hours after having a scheduled C-section that was performed in 17 minutes to deliver the couple’s son. "It was butchery," lawyer Nicholas Rowley said. "It shocked everybody that we deposed, all the health care providers. Even the head of [obstetrics] here, the head of labor and delivery, looked at it and said 'No, I’ve never seen one done that fast.'" Johnson then languished for hours without being readmitted to the operating room until it was too late, the civil rights lawsuit asserts. She died from internal bleeding, as her bladder had been lacerated and she had not been properly sutured. The hospital in a statement said it rejects "any mischaracterization of our culture and values."
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