{"id":2575,"date":"2024-11-18T04:19:44","date_gmt":"2024-11-18T09:19:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/multi.nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/?p=2575"},"modified":"2024-11-18T04:19:44","modified_gmt":"2024-11-18T09:19:44","slug":"maternal-deaths-in-limelight-as-family-friends-hold-vigil-for-woman-who-died-giving-birth-at-woodhull-hospital","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/maternal-deaths-in-limelight-as-family-friends-hold-vigil-for-woman-who-died-giving-birth-at-woodhull-hospital\/","title":{"rendered":"Maternal Deaths in Limelight as Family, Friends Hold Vigil For Woman Who Died Giving Birth at Woodhull Hospital"},"content":{"rendered":"

By: Asar John<\/a><\/p>\n

A vigil was held in Bedford Stuyvesant on Wednesday to honor Christine Fields, a pregnant Black woman who died at NYC Health + Hospitals\/Woodhull last year from hemorrhaging, following an emergency Cesarean section.<\/p>\n

Held one year to the day of Fields\u2019 passing, the vigil was attended by\u00a0family members, friends\u00a0and advocates dressed in purple, Fields’\u00a0favorite color. Some also wore purple shirts with pictures of Fields\u2019 smiling face, while\u00a0others held\u00a0signs calling for justice.<\/p>\n

\u201cFind your doula, have a birthing plan, get your midwives, ask all the questions,\u201d said Denene Witherspoon, Fields’ mother, when asked if she had any advice for pregnant Black women giving birth at the hospital. \u201cIf you\u2019re in pain, speak, scream, yell.\u201d<\/p>\n

The somber event opened with a prayer for Fields, followed by her family playing a recording of Fields singing I Won\u2019t Complain<\/em>, a song by Rev. Paul Jones. Friends and family gathered around Witherspoon as she shed tears listening to her daughter\u2019s voice.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy daughter had a beautiful heart, mind and soul\u2013 she wasn’t just beautiful, but intelligent,\u201d said Witherspoon, who talked\u00a0about her daughter’s bachelors\u2019 degree in criminal justice.<\/p>\n

Fields\u2019 family has filed a $41 million lawsuit against Woodhull, part of the city\u2019s public hospital system. The family alleges<\/a> the hospital system and Woodhull\u00a0were \u201ccareless and negligent\u201d in their care for Fields and her now one-year old son Anuel Perez, while he was in utero.<\/p>\n

Fields was a mother of three and was a fianc\u00e9e to Jose Perez, who also attended the rally with his two older children, Liam, 5, and Nova, 3. He said he recently met with New York Attorney General\u00a0Letitia James\u00a0<\/strong>so she could become familiar with\u00a0Fields\u00a0and to push for the passage of Grieving\u00a0Families Act, which would allow families to sue for emotional damages following the wrongful death of a relative.<\/p>\n

“Hopefully the work I\u2019m doing, as much as I\u2019m sharing Christine\u2019s story and keeping Christine alive, spiritually, it should work,\u201d said Perez, referring to getting the Grieving Families Act passed.<\/p>\n

Ira Newman, the family\u2019s attorney and a lawyer at Sanocki Newman & Turret, LLP, said that in cases where damages are awarded for grief, there isn\u2019t a limited threshold for the amount of money that can be granted. Currently, New York state\u2019s wrongful death laws only allow families to sue for financial damages.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019d be dependent on what they say and what they can prove [to a jury],\u201d said Newman.<\/p>\n

Newman said that depositions by the family and the hospital are expected to happen in December.<\/p>\n

Among the crowd of supporters was Bruce McIntyre III, who said he lost his pregnant fianc\u00e9e Amber Rose Isaac to medical negligence at Montefiore Medical Center\u00a0in the Bronx in 2020.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\"brucemc\"
Bruce McIntyre III, holding\u00a0 loudspeaker, calling for an end to the high maternal morality rates of black women. Photo by Asar John.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cThis never should’ve happened and this doesn\u2019t need to continue to happen, but unfortunately we\u2019re gonna be standing in this same area next year advocating for someone else if this does not stop,\u201d said McIntyre, listing off demands including greater access to birthing centers, healthcare and the passage of the Grieving Families Act.<\/p>\n

\u201cBlack women need to quit dying in this system and it needs to stop, and Woodhull needs to be held accountable,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Since 2020<\/a>, there have been three women of color including Christine Fields who died after giving birth at Woodhull Hospital.\u00a0The most recent death<\/a> was that of 24-year-old Bevorlin Garcia Barrios on Sept. 15, who also lost her life\u00a0after an emergency C-Section.<\/p>\n

Black women are three times more likely to die from pregnancy related issues than white women, according to the Centers for Diseases Control.\u00a0In New York City<\/a>, that number triples, with Black women being nine times more likely than white women to face death.<\/p>\n

Perez said his daughter goes by her bedroom window every night to look up at the sky and speaks to her mom in heaven.<\/p>\n

The vigil ended with the release of purple balloons,\u00a0up into the same night sky Nova communicates with her mother.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\"balloonrelease\"
Balloons for Christine Fields floating into the sky over Woodhull Medical Center. Photo: Asar John<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cNo amount of money in the world is going to bring my daughter back, but it\u2019s just so other families won\u2019t have to suffer,” Witherspoon said.<\/p>\n

Witherspoon also noted that she has not heard from the hospital since her daughter’s passing.<\/p>\n

Woodhull did not respond to BK Reader’s request for comment.<\/p>\n

At 11:00am\u00a0on Saturday, Nov. 16, a rally\u00a0will be held at the hospital, 760 Broadway, to shine a light on maternal deaths of women of color at the medical center.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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