Italian government investigates after five pregnant women die in a week

Italian government investigates after five pregnant women die in a week

Health ministry send teams to four hospitals in north of Italy, which has one of the world’s lowest maternal mortality rates


?w=620&q=85&auto=format&sharp=10&s=fe3b8691f791d2e87145d23026e02a38
Italy’s health minister, Beatrice Lorenzin, who has called for investigations into the deaths of four heavily pregnant women. Photograph: AFP/Getty

The Italian government has launched a string of investigations after five heavily pregnant (what in the hell is "heavily pregnant??) women died in less than a week, causing alarm in a country with a reputation for safe childbirth. Italy’s health ministry has sent investigative teams to four hospitals in the north of the country following the deaths of women between seven and nine months pregnant.

In the most recent case, 30-year-old Giovanna Lazzari died on New Year’s Eve during an emergency caesarean at a hospital in Brescia. The mother-of-two was eight months pregnant and had been admitted two days earlier suffering from a fever.

“Giovanna sent me an SMS in the middle of the night, telling me she was in serious pain and that she wasn’t receiving attention from the doctors,” her husband, Roberto Coppini, told Ansa news agency.

He was later called to hospital by doctors and was told his wife had lost the baby, after which Lazzari was taken into surgery to remove the foetus. A hospital spokesperson was not immediately available to comment on media reports that Lazzari died of a haemorrhage.

. . . . .



http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jan/03/italian-government-investigates-deaths-five-pregnant-women