"Once I felt it, I was just screaming like, 'Stop. I can feel it. I can feel it.' After that, I'm pretty sure I passed out from the pain," Delphina Mota told KNSD.
According to the malpractice and negligence lawsuit filed in California Supreme Court, Mota and her fiance, Paul Iheanachor, arrived at Tri-City Medical Center in November 2017 for the birth of their daughter and requested an epidural before a planned vaginal delivery.
The problem started when her doctor couldn't find the baby's heartbeat, and Mota's blood pressure suddenly dropped, the lawsuit stated.
Minutes later, the doctor at Tri-City Medical Center in Oceanside called for an emergency C-section.
The anesthesiologist on call, Dr. David Seif, was "paged multiple times but did not respond," the lawsuit claimed.
Nine minutes after the doctor paged Seif, Mota claims the surgical team strapped her to the operating table and began to cut her open.
Paul Iheanachor, Mota's fiance and father of her child, told KNSD he heard Mota scream and she went silent after she passed out.
"If somebody put a knife in your stomach and cut you open, and had their hands on your insides, and ripped your baby out, you know. I just tried to put myself in her shoes," Iheanachor said. "Just tried to wrap my mind around how it would feel to basically be gutted like a fish."
Iheanachor said he tried to get inside the operating room but was "held back by several hospital personnel," the lawsuit states.
Mota and Iheanachor are asking for more than $5 million in damages.
Tri-City Hospital has not commented on the lawsuit.
A representative of the Anesthesia Service Medical Group, of which Seif is a member, denied the allegations in a statement to KNSD.
“The group, on behalf of Dr. Seif, is confident that anesthesia services would have been available, and were available. Additionally, the group and Dr. Seif are confident that the care provided by Dr. Seif was appropriate under the circumstances.”
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