Q: During delivery my wife expired. She had completed 9 months. After normal delivery she was facing some bleeding problem. The doctor gave her 2 units of blood. During this duration her blood pressure went low leading to heart failure. I want to know what actually happened with her?

A:At the outset please accept my heart felt condolence to you and the rest of the family on this irreparable loss. I am very sorry for what happened. it is the worst thing that can happen to a woman in childbirth. despite all the advances in medicine and care during childbirth tragedies like this happen. From the information in this letter it would be impossible to find the exact cause of death and only a post mortem examination would tell us that. (I do not know whether it was done or not). Anything else I say would be only a speculation. To answer your query I would want you to know that there are many reasons for bleeding which is not controlled after childbirth. There can be injury to the birth canal during childbirth. After the delivery of the child the uterus contracts and that stops the bleeding from the placental bed. If this does not happen uncontrolled bleeding can occur. The mechanisms which cause the blood to clot after delivery may fail causing a fatal bleed. The fluid which surrounds the baby may enter the blood vessels of the mother and cause sudden death. Well there are numerous ways in which such tragedies can happen and despite the best possible care it does happen occasionally. Events like this only makes one involved in this profession feel very humble. As a part of your bereavement you will go over these events again and again in your mind and wonder if it was preventable. Well it is normal for the bereaved family to go over this but I would like to tell this that such deaths happen in advanced countries like UK, France and other countries in western Europe and in USA. Please do not let any feelings of self blame make your bereavement more painful. I hope you are able to think less about causes and what went wrong and whether it was avoidable as of now and some how find strength to cope with the loss. Please accept my condolences once again. May God give you strength to cope with this irreparable loss.