Committee finds no medical error in Strumica mother's paralysis after cesarean

A professional five-member medical commission concluded there was no medical error in the case of a 19-year-old mother from Strumica who became immobilized after giving birth by cesarean section. The panel found that the neurological condition she developed after delivery was not caused by the spinal anesthesia.

Findings and possible cause

"According to the committee's findings, care during pregnancy, the referral to the Clinical Hospital in Shtip, the cesarean delivery, the anesthesia and the post-operative monitoring were carried out according to applicable protocols. The spinal anesthesia was administered in the lumbar, that is, the lower part of the spine with a standard drug," said Sasho Klekovski, Minister of Health.

The commission determined there is no link between the anesthesia and the neurological outcome. Instead, the experts pointed to bleeding from blood vessels in the spinal cord as a possible cause.

"There is a suspicion of abnormal formation of blood vessels that have bled, in this case incidentally and entirely unrelated to the anesthesia and the cesarean. The event occurred on the sixth day after the act of delivery. If unintended medical damage to the spinal cord had occurred it would have to manifest immediately after the administration of the anesthesia, and not a full week later," said Mićun Mićunović, neurosurgery.

The patient, 19-year-old Stanka Mihajlova from the village of Banica near Strumica, ended up in a wheelchair after the cesarean at the Clinical Hospital in Shtip. Her father-in-law accused medical staff of wrongdoing and asked the Minister of Health for help.

Following the complaint, Minister Klekovski ordered an extraordinary inspection of all health facilities where the patient received treatment. The commission's conclusions were announced after that review.

Reported by Tamara Markovska.

Photo: press material from the event