Gurinder Sidhu says his wife Ravinder, pictured here, died in a Mississauga hospital days after giving birth. (Photo: Change.org)<\/p>\n
Gurinder Sidhu says his family has been shattered by the death of his wife Ravinder in a Mississauga hospital \u2013 a death he says could have been avoided through more training in Ontario birthing units.<\/p>\n
He says his late wife was in the postpartum unit at Mississauga\u2019s Credit Valley Hospital on July 19 when she began showing \u201csigns of serious infection\u201d after giving birth to the couple\u2019s third child, according to a petition on Change.org.<\/p>\n
Ravinder\u2019s fever hit 39.2 C and she began shaking uncontrollably, with her blood pressure dropping to 63 over 35, Gurinder says.<\/p>\n
\u201cI repeatedly asked nurses for help and was told we were waiting for a doctor,\u201d said Gurinder, a 35-year-old accountant from Brampton, according to reports.<\/p>\n
But some 30 hours passed before Gurinder learned Ravinder was suffering from a rapidly progressing Group A Strep infection.<\/p>\n
She was given antibiotics, but died in hospital \u201cshortly thereafter,\u201d just four days after giving birth, Gurinder says.<\/p>\n
He says she was a physiotherapist in the GTA, and a \u201cbeloved wife, and mother.\u201d<\/p>\n
The death has devastated the family, with Gurinder saying his six-year-old daughter asks \u201cwhy mom isn\u2019t at bedtime,\u201d while their seven-year-old son \u201cstill sets an extra place at the dinner table.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI remember Ravinder whispering to me, \u2018Please do something.\u2019 In my heart, I believe that if action had been taken when she first showed signs of sepsis, she would still be here,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
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\u2019s admission, and removal of \u201cgatekeeping of empiric antibiotics once sepsis is suspected.\u201d<\/p>\n