Sad, sad case today

Nurses General Nursing

Published

Just before I arrived the night shift had responded to a code in the unit. Young woman, less than 12 hours postpartum, had severe PIH with a mag drip during labor, after the delivery and after family left was found unresponsive by staff. House supe tried a sternal rub and she postured. Moved her to the unit and she coded. Major bilat bleed into both ventricles, pupils fixed and dilated.

Kind of scary for me because I had PIH.

Specializes in Med/Surge, Psych, LTC, Home Health.

Wow... I'm due in February, and this is all very scary. :uhoh21: I didn't have any real complications with my daughter, just a C section because she would not drop. Things seem to be going well so far, so we'll see. :)

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Witchy, you will have a safe pregnancy and a happy delivery. I have declared it.

On a sadder note, we found out yesterday that Mom has been declared brain dead.

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Specializes in CT ,ICU,CCU,Tele,ED,Hospice.

witchy congrats and a happy healthy baby.takecare

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Specializes in Med onc, med, surg, now in ICU!.

We had a sad case recently on my clinical rotation. Bub was born on Friday morning. Grandpa (mum's dad) came in to see his first grandchild, thrilled up the wazoo. Grandad went home, had a huge AMI and died. Mum is still in hospital and got gate leave to attend the funeral. Awful, awful case. At least Grandad got to see the baby.

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Specializes in ER, CCU/ICU, Trauma, Hospice.
What is PIH for us non OB nurses

I'm not an OB nurse, but it means Pregnancy Induced Hypertension....These patients can develop what is called HELLP syndrome which is Hemolysis, Elevated Liver enzymes and Low Platelets. PT and PTT usually remain normal. Pt may complain of epigastric or right upper quadrant pain and usually affects multigravidas. It may mimic a gallbladder presentation or indigestion. Surgical pathology must be ruled out. Always keep this in mind if multigravid female presents with these problems. They will also be hypertensive, have protein in urine, edematous and also complain of headaches.

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This is so sad. Prayers to the family!

When my sister in law anounced she was pregnant last Aug. I feared that something similar would happen to her... more related to her severe Diabetes though. I thought my brother would be left to raise thier child alone. It was just a strange feeling that I got. She reassured me that they were following doctors orders to the T... and that everything would be fine. Unfortunately, something bad did happen to her. She was home alone one Saturday morning in Nov. and she passed out due to her diabetes and ended up drowning in their bathtub. She was dressed, which makes it all more freaky. I still can't wrap my mind around that one. Anyway, the autopsy revealed the baby to be a boy (13 weeks). She was 26. Tragedies happen and none of them make any sence.

It makes me stress the importance to everyone to take good care of themselves.

Again, prayers go out to this family!

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I truly feel for the family and for the staff. I had PIH, HELLP, DIC, ended up intubated and transferred to MICU after the birth of my daughter. I received 89 units over the course of it. An oncologist was called in to perform a life-saving hysterectomy...if not for that I would not be here or be an RN right now. It is a scary thing. And the staff remembers me 10 years later. So very sad to think of a child never knowing their mother.

Jess

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Here's what's really sad: the staff called the doc several times during the night to tell him she was still hypertensive and had a right sided HA.

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Oh My GOSH AngelCNA..My heart goes out to you and your brother..what a terrible thing to have happened!!

I don't know how you OB, ER, NICU and Ped nurses do it. I am tearing up from reading these post. I get sad when an elderly resident passes on, but it is different, most of them are ready, have lived a full life or have suffered so long it is almost a blessing. To see all these young or even not so young people to die to tragicly is devasting. Thank god for nurses like you.

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Specializes in Med/Surg, ICU, educator.
What is PIH for us non OB nurses

I'm not OB, but I think it stands for pregnancy induced hypertension

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we use the term - PIH -meaning pregnancy induced hypertension

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This is so sad. There's something about the sudden death of an otherwise healthy individual. It shocks you to the very core and goes against what we hope is the natural order of things (grow old first before you die, and never bury our children first).

Posting here is a blessing; reminds all of us to take patient complaints seriously (right sided HA with hypertension vs)- even if Drs won't. I bet there's a doctor out there who won't be sleeping too well tonight...

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