Popular TV Judge Glenda Hatchett is opening up for the first time since the untimely death of her daughter-in-law after suffering from bleeding less than a day after having a C-section performed while delivering her son, her second child.
In a recent CNN interview, the advocate of Black women and maternal health said that the operation took place at Los Angeles’ Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, the same institution that now faces a federal investigation for its treatment of Black mothers.
“She was in great health, a marathon runner… she skydived, she had a pilot’s license, she was a remarkable woman,” Hatchett said about Kira Johnson, the wife of her son, Charles Johnson. “And never, ever did I think that we would walk into that hospital and walk out without her.”
Speaking to 11Alive, Johnson recalled that shortly after the C-section, he noticed blood in Kira’s catheter and informed doctors and nurses who ordered a CT scan.
But rather than having the CT scan performed immediately, they waited several hours. The CT was never performed and waited seven hours before doctors conducted an internal exam.
“‘She’ll be back in 15 minutes,” Charles said the doctor told him. “And that was the last time I saw Kira alive.”
She further added that doctors had found three liters of blood in Kira’s stomach. Her heart stopped beating immediately after.
Less than 12 hours after giving birth, Kira died from a hemorrhage.
“The truth is she went in healthy, they botched it, she was butchered,” Hatchett said. “The autopsy is very clear about that, and that she was allowed to hemorrhage not for an hour or two hours, but for 10 hours before they got her back to the [operating room].”
The Verdict with Judge Hatchett star said that it was “negligence all the way.” The family would eventually settle a lawsuit against the hospital.
What should have taken 12-15 minutes to go back through the original scar of her first C-section (she also had a C-section while giving birth to her firstborn), took less than four minutes, the 72-year-old Atlanta native explained.
“He butchered her,” Hatchett said.
The news comes less than one week after Shine My Crown reported that Cedars-Sinai Medical Center was under fire after it was hit with a federal civil rights investigation over its treatment of Black mothers, the Department of Health and Human Services confirmed.
The investigation was filed after recent reports have shown Black women nationwide continue to face higher maternal mortality rates.
In the years following Kira’s death, her family filed a lawsuit against the hospital, which has since been settled out of court. At the time of the suit’s filing, Kira’s husband accused the hospital of racism and said her race played a role in why his wife died while delivering their second son.
A letter obtained by The Los Angeles Times found that the hospital informed Johnson that the government would be reviewing their compliance with civil rights laws after accusing the institution of giving Black women a lower standard of care during labor.
“Maternal health is a priority for the Biden-Harris Administration and one in which the HHS Office for Civil Rights is working on around the country to ensure equity and equality in health care,” HHS officials wrote in a statement obtained by Forbes.
Furthermore, Cedears-Sinai said that it has “long been concerned” with Black maternal health disparities, and is working diligently to provide Black birth equity.
In lawsuit filings, Johnson said his civil rights were violated and her race was a factor in the slapdash healthcare she received. His wife’s death is just one of many cases among Black women in the country. According to the CDC, Black women are three times more likely to die from maternal mortality compared to white women.
“To have little boys (8-year-old Langston and 7-year-old Charles) say ‘well why can’t Mommy come home from heaven?’ … we don’t want any other families to experience the horrific pain that our family has gone through,” Hatchett said. “Because there’s no amount of money, or settlement, that can bring her back. But we think that this is going to save other lives.”
