A young mother and her unborn baby died over Shabbos at Sheba Medical Center after severe complications in her 29th week of pregnancy.
Orel z"l, 30, of Rishon LeZion, had been at home for the past two weeks after her pregnancy was classified as high-risk, according to reports. She had previously undergone two cesarean sections.
During Shabbos, Magen David Adom paramedics rushed her to Sheba in critical condition. The hospital said she was found at home in critical condition, though a medical source told Ynet she arrived conscious and collapsed at the hospital entrance.
She was taken straight to the obstetric operating room, where doctors fought to save her and her baby and connected her to an ECMO heart-lung machine. Despite extensive resuscitation efforts, they were forced to pronounce the deaths of both mother and baby.
They were laid to rest on Motzei Shabbos at the Ganei Esther cemetery in Rishon LeZion.
“During Shabbos, Sheba Medical Center received, via an MDA crew, a pregnant woman in her thirties, in the 29th week of pregnancy, who was found at her home in critical condition,” the hospital said. “She was rushed to the obstetric operating room, where teams continued fighting for her life, and she was connected to an ECMO machine. Despite the medical teams’ efforts, they were forced to pronounce the deaths of both mother and baby. The case has been reported to the Health Ministry. Sheba Medical Center shares in the family’s grief.”
The tragedy is the latest in a series of similar cases over the past year.
Last April, the Health Ministry set up a committee to examine the death of Reut Cohen, 35, of Ra’anana, who died along with her twin daughters in the 30th week of her first pregnancy. Cohen collapsed at home and was rushed to Meir Medical Center in Kfar Saba in critical condition.
In August, a woman in her forties died at Soroka Medical Center in Be’er Sheva after a rare complication in the 34th week of her seventh pregnancy. She arrived at the hospital complaining of abdominal pain, and her condition deteriorated rapidly. During emergency surgery, the baby was delivered without signs of life, and the mother died the following day.
