Pregnant woman dies after epidural, autopsy finds anesthesia error

Police probe death of pregnant woman after epidural in Daejeon. gettyimagesbank

Police are investigating whether medical negligence was involved in the death of a pregnant woman in her 20s who lost consciousness after receiving an epidural at an obstetrics clinic in Daejeon and later died after nearly three weeks on life support.

The Daejeon Metropolitan Police Agency is questioning the head doctor of the clinic in Dong District on suspicion of involuntary manslaughter in connection with the June incident, police said Wednesday.

Hospital and medical records show that the 29-year-old patient arrived at the clinic with her husband at about 5 p.m. on June 15 experiencing labor pains.

While preparing for admission around 5:45 p.m., the attending physician administered an epidural in a family delivery room. Ten minutes later, the woman reported dizziness and difficulty breathing.

Judging that both her vital signs and the fetal heartbeat were unstable, the doctor moved her to the operating room for an emergency cesarean section. At about 6 p.m., she went into cardiac arrest and lost consciousness. Emergency responders were called while the doctor proceeded with surgery to deliver the baby.

Although 27 minutes of resuscitation and airway management were attempted, the woman never regained consciousness. She and the newborn were transferred to a university hospital’s emergency room and neonatal intensive care unit.

Medical records there noted “hypoxic brain injury due to cardiac arrest” and described her chances of recovery as extremely slim. The newborn, who stopped breathing for six minutes, was discharged after 10 days following therapeutic hypothermia. The woman died on July 7 after life-sustaining treatment was withdrawn.

The family alleges that the needle pierced the dura during the epidural, allowing the drug to enter the spinal canal and causing a spinal block.

Spinal anesthesia involves injecting medication into the cerebrospinal fluid, whereas epidurals deliver it into the space outside the dura. Spinal anesthesia is stronger, faster-acting, and harder to control, requiring a much smaller dosage — about one-tenth that of an epidural.

A police source said a National Forensic Service autopsy concluded the catheter inserted for the epidural had gone into the dura, leading to spinal anesthesia and resulting complications.

University hospital records also stated that clear fluid resembling cerebrospinal fluid was found in the catheter placed at the clinic, suggesting it had entered the spinal canal.

“We will await the results of the investigation. If there was negligence, we will take legal responsibility," an official from the clinic said. "Even if there was none, we must still take responsibility in some way, given the patient’s death.”

This article from the Hankook Ilbo, the sister publication of The Korea Times, is translated by a generative AI and edited by The Korea Times.