Anesthetist is drunk during delivery, Caesarean section fatal to woman (28) | Abroad

The Belgian Helga Wauters drank every day. Vodka mixed with water. She admitted that “she could not go to the surgery department without drinking”, according to Het Laatste Nieuws.

On September 26, she gave 28-year-old Xynthia Hawke an epidural. Then she went to friends to “drink a glass of rosé. The delivery was anything but successful, requiring a caesarean section. Wauters returned to the hospital, reeked of booze, and then intubated her patient’s esophagus instead of her trachea. Hawke woke up during surgery and was in a lot of pain.

She died a few days later from a lack of oxygen. Her baby survived. During a breathalyzer test, taken one day after her death, Wauters turned out to have 2.4 percent alcohol in her blood, which is the equivalent of six to nine glasses of alcohol.

The woman was previously fired twice for making mistakes while under the influence. She was also convicted twice after getting behind the wheel with alcohol. She has now been in prison for three years.

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