Hospital beds (archive)
Hospital beds (archive)Flash 90

A woman who suffered cardiac arrest as a result of complications while giving birth at Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem has died, hospital officials said Wednesday.

The woman, a 33-year-old Jerusalem-area resident, arrived the Shaare Zedek Medical Center’s maternity ward early Tuesday morning to give birth, but suffered an amniotic fluid embolism (AFE) while in labor.

The embolism, caused by amniotic fluid entering the mother’s bloodstream, led to a collapse of the woman’s cardiovascular system, causing cardiac arrest and lung failure.

The woman was rushed to the hospital’s intensive care ward and placed on an extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) life support system. Her condition was listed as serious Tuesday.

While doctors were able to perform an emergency caesarean section and safely remove the child, they were unable to stabilize the woman’s condition. On Wednesday, hospital officials reported that the woman had died as a result of the embolism.

The child was transferred in good condition to the hospital’s nursery for premature births.

A rare and life-threatening complication, amniotic fluid embolism occur when amniotic fluid – the liquid surrounding the unborn child – enters into the bloodstream of the expecting mother, typically shortly before or during labor.

In some cases, AFEs can cause the mother’s lungs to collapse, and in chain reaction, eventually lead to complete cardiovascular collapse.

In 2015, a 29-year-old woman giving birth at Shaare Zedek suffered an AFE, dying shortly after giving birth by caesarean section. Doctors managed to safely remove the child in an emergency caesarean.