Family Of Stoughton Woman Awarded $4 Million In Fatal Malpractice Case

STOUGHTON, MA — The family of a Stoughton mother who died shortly after childbirth has been awarded $4 million.

Following a three-week trial and five days of jury deliberation in Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham, the jury ruled in favor of the Estate of Marie Gabriel-Gelin, deciding that Crown Obstetrics & Gynecology PC was vicariously liable, according to the law office of Todd & Weld LLP.

In 2008, Gabriel-Gelin became anemic during her pregnancy had an increased risk of death if she suffered substantial bleeding during and after her C-section, according to the law firm. A C-section was performed at South Shore Hospital and during the procedure, Gabriel-Gelin lost one-fourth of her total blood due to an injury to her bowel during the procedure.

She also suffered from an atonic uterus during the C-section, which was treated but returned several hours later, causing the mother to hemorrhage substantial amounts of blood. The law firm says she OBGYNs failed to properly monitor her condition and did not give her an immediate blood transfusion. By the time she received the transfusion, she went into cardiac arrest and died.

"A key hurdle the plaintiff had to overcome at trial was an autopsy report that was admitted into evidence finding that the cause of death was amniotic fluid embolism, a rare, untreatable, unpredictable, and unpreventable condition. Todd & Weld argued that the autopsy was deficient because the medical examiner did not have all of the medical records necessary to come to an accurate determination as to her cause of death," the law firm wrote on their website.

The other defendants, Dr. Shobha Sikka, Dr. Christo Shakr, and South Shore Hospital, were not found liable, according to the Enterprise.