Pregnant woman collapses and dies, doctors unable to save her or her twins

Reut Cohen, in 30th week, rushed to hospital, undergoes emergency C-section but mother and unborn girls die; family questions whether doctors previously missed serious condition

A woman who was pregnant with twin girls died overnight Saturday, with doctors performing an emergency caesarean section in a desperate, but unsuccessful, effort to save her and her babies, while her family suggested hospitals had earlier missed detecting a serious medical condition.

Reut Cohen, 35, from Ra’anana, was in the 30th week of her first pregnancy when the tragedy struck.

She was rushed to Meir Medical Center after having collapsed in her home.

Though the hospital said the cause of death was still unclear, her brother claimed it was undetected preeclampsia, a condition that causes blood pressure and organ damage. He said Cohen was in hospitals twice last week complaining of pain, but on each occasion doctors told her she was fine.

Speaking to the Ynet outlet, Cohen’s brother, Itai, said that throughout the pregnancy, his sister had suffered from pains, but doctors told her that there was nothing that could be done.

“It is a real tragedy,” Cohen’s brother, Itai, told Ynet. “We never thought we would get to a situation like this. We are completely broken. We have some anger, because we don’t understand how none of the tests and these hospitalizations didn’t pick up that she had preeclampsia.”

“This great loss could have been prevented, unequivocally, if they had noticed that,” he said.

Last week, Cohen woke with sharp pains along her spine and in her stomach, prompting her to visit Sheba Medical Center. Doctors examined her, told her that she was fine, and sent her home, Itai said. Doctors had explained that one of the babies may have moved to a position causing her discomfort.

Then on Thursday, she again suffered abdominal pain and went with her mother to Meir Medical Center, where doctors performed an MRI, which showed one of the babies pressing against her kidney, Itai said. Again, doctors told her there was nothing to worry about and sent her home.

On Friday, she collapsed at home and was rushed to the hospital.

Meir Medical Center said in a statement that she arrived in “critical condition.”

Upon her arrival, an emergency caesarean section was carried out, and “many teams continued advanced and prolonged resuscitation efforts for the mother and the babies,” the hospital said in a statement, but they were unable to save them.

The hospital has said that it is not yet clear why Cohen died, and the matter will be investigated by the Health Ministry.