MedMal: A Headache After Cesarean. A Missed Emergency. A Preventable Death.
Postpartum triage failure and why headaches after delivery are never benign.
What this is about
This is a case about postpartum headache. It is also a case about systems failure, misplaced reassurance, and missed responsibility in the most dangerous week of obstetrics.
The case
One week after a cesarean delivery, a woman called the hospital complaining of headaches. She was routed to an anesthesia resident. No vital signs were obtained. No blood pressure was checked. No questions were asked about visual changes, neurologic symptoms, epigastric pain, or prior hypertensive disease. She was told it was “most likely a spinal headache”, to take 2 Tylenols, and advised to come in only if it worsened.
