Gurinder Sidhu says his wife Ravinder, pictured here, died in a Mississauga hospital days after giving birth. (Photo: Change.org)

Gurinder Sidhu says his family has been shattered by the death of his wife Ravinder in a Mississauga hospital – a death he says could have been avoided through more training in Ontario birthing units.

He says his late wife was in the postpartum unit at Mississauga’s Credit Valley Hospital on July 19 when she began showing “signs of serious infection” after giving birth to the couple’s third child, according to a petition on Change.org.

Ravinder’s fever hit 39.2 C and she began shaking uncontrollably, with her blood pressure dropping to 63 over 35, Gurinder says.

“I repeatedly asked nurses for help and was told we were waiting for a doctor,” said Gurinder, a 35-year-old accountant from Brampton, according to reports.

But some 30 hours passed before Gurinder learned Ravinder was suffering from a rapidly progressing Group A Strep infection.

She was given antibiotics, but died in hospital “shortly thereafter,” just four days after giving birth, Gurinder says.

He says she was a physiotherapist in the GTA, and a “beloved wife, and mother.”

The death has devastated the family, with Gurinder saying his six-year-old daughter asks “why mom isn’t at bedtime,” while their seven-year-old son “still sets an extra place at the dinner table.”

“I remember Ravinder whispering to me, ‘Please do something.’ In my heart, I believe that if action had been taken when she first showed signs of sepsis, she would still be here,” he says.

The grieving father started an online petition calling for a mandatory one-hour sepsis protocol in all Ontario birthing units, an independent review of all care decisions during Ravinder’s admission, and removal of “gatekeeping of empiric antibiotics once sepsis is suspected.”

Over 6,700 people had signed the petition as of around 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday.

The petition cites guidelines from the Surviving Sepsis Campaign, which recommend administering blood cultures and antibiotics within one hour of when sepsis is suspected.

Gurinder is calling for Ontarians to sign the petition and for a health care system “that ensures every new parent receives lifesaving antibiotics without delay.”

“No other child should grow up asking why their mother never came home,” he said.

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