Hospital official: Serious faults led to new mother's death

A series of serious failures and negligence led to the death of a woman a day after she gave birth to twins by Caesarean section, a senior medical official at Hadassah University Hospital, Ein Karem told Haaretz.

Dr. Galit Sa'ada-Ophir, 37, died Thursday in the obstetrics ward from massive abdominal bleeding caused by the surgical incision. Her family said the medical and nursing staff did not listen when she said she was feeling progressively worse following the birth.

The source at Hadassah said yesterday that he believed the internal bleeding went unnoticed at the end of the surgery, and she received no treatment for it, despite her complaints.

The source said part of the problem was that the surgeon was not a member of the permanent ward staff.

Sa'ada-Ophir's husband, Moshe Ophir, and his attorney, Doron Caspi, met yesterday with hospital directors. Caspi said they received facts about Galit's treatment and partial findings from the autopsy.

"In light of what we have today, we expect the hospital soon to take full moral and legal responsibility," Caspi said.

The hospital responded: "The management of Hadassah is examining the circumstances of Galit's tragic death, including insisting that the autopsy be performed at the institute of forensic medicine and not at Hadassah."