Events that led to the deaths of my
two precious daughters, Chelsea and
Camille Igwe.
Tuesday Dec 10th, 2002. (26 Weeks
Pregnant)
I started to have painful and
excruciating contractions, I
telephoned my OB/GYN Dr. Vinayakom,
who instructed me to check in to Shady
Grove Adventist Hospital’s labor and
delivery dept and she would meet me
there. I got to the hospital at about
11.00 p.m. and was met by a Nurse who
said that the doctor had given her
orders on what to do with me. The
nurse started me on an IV with a bunch
of other medications, I asked her what
the goal of the medications were and
she said it was to stop contractions,
however I was still waiting to see my
Doctor but she never showed up and
about 3.30 a.m on the early morning
hours of Wednesday Dec 11th the nurse
discharged me and gave me a
prescription called Terbutaline to
take every 4 hours, I complained that
I was still having contractions and
she said that 6 contractions per hour
was normal and that my Doctor would
like me to follow up in her office in
a week.
Wednesday Dec 11th, 2002.
Now at home, I continued to take my
medication (Terbutaline), however the
contractions would slow down and then
continue, this went on through the
next day, this time more intense.
Thursday Dec 12th, 2002.
Once again I started to have very
painful contractions, I called Dr.
Vinayakom who in turn advised me to go
straight to Shady Grove Hospital for a
possible delivery. Once I got there a
Nurse started an IV on me with
Magnesium Sulfate. Later on that
Morning Dr. Pinckert and Dr. Vinayakom
both came in to see me, they did an
ultrasound on me and they informed me
that both of my babies were heads down
and that they would have to send me
home the next day with a Terbutaline
Pump to control the contractions at
home.
Friday Dec 13th, 2002.
Again still on Magnesium Sulfate, the
contractions continued and the Nurse
on duty informed me that she had
placed an order for the Terbutaline
Pump, and that the company was waiting
for an approval from my insurance
company, I called my insurance company
who in turn informed me that the Pump
would be approved pending a call from
My Doctor, I gave them my Doctors
office number. Later on in the
evening a Nurse named Rachael came in
and told me that Dr. Vinayakom has
informed her that she will be
transferring me to Holy Cross Clinic
and would no longer care for me
because she did not think that My new
Insurance company (Priority Partners)
would reimburse her as much as my
prior Insurance (Blue Cross) because
of my twins. When the nurse told me
that, I was distraught, she told me
that Dr. Vinayakom would like to speak
to me. Rachel transferred a call from
Dr. Vinayakom to me and Dr. Vinayakom
then told me of her plans to terminate
my care since she just realized that I
no longer had Blue Cross and now have
Priority Partners Insurance which she
does accept, I expressed my
disappointment to her and asked why
she would cause me more stress, after
all she is a participating provider
with Priority Partners and her Office
Manager Brenda had told me that my
care would not be interrupted. Dr.
Vinayakom then told me that she spent
10 minutes on the phone with my
insurance company for the pump and
that she does not have valuable time
to waste she went further to tell me
that I was carrying twins and she did
not think that she would make a lot of
money from my insurance company on my
delivery. I thought I was having a
dream I had never seen or heard of a
Doctor treating a patient like that.
Shortly after Dr. Matia a partner to
Dr. Pinckert shows up for a brief
visit and informs me that the nurse on
duty told her about Dr. Vinayakom call
to me and she did not think that was
proper, she said she would talk to Dr.
Pinckert about the issue because once
a Doctor accepts and participates on
an insurance plan the Dr would have to
accept the payment form the insurance
company as payment for services
rendered. An hour and half later
after the phone call with Dr.
Vinayakom I realize a gush of fluid
gushing through my legs I informed the
Nurse on duty (Amy) who confirmed that
I had ruptured my membranes, she told
me she would page my Doctor, moments
later Amy arrived with a staff Doctor
on duty Dr. Bernard who took a culture
from me, I was hoping to see my Doctor
that night but she never came.
Saturday Dec 14th, 2002.
At about 9.30 a.m. Dr. Vinayakom walks
in to my room and informs me that she
received a call that I had ruptured my
membranes but that she did not think
so, Dr. Vinayakom did not even bother
to check me rather she then went ahead
to talk about money and that she did
not want to waste her time with a
patient whose situation would require
more time and not enough payment, and
that she would discharge me today
after the Nurse from Matria come with
the Terbutaline Pump and gets me
started on it. I asked Dr Vinayakom
why she decided to treat me the way
she has and I asked her about the
fluid gushing down my legs she said it
was probably my urine, she never
bothered to check it and after hours
of arguing back and forth about money
Dr. Vinayakom left the room, I felt
dejected. At about 12.00 noon the
Nurse from Matria came to give me
instructions on how to use the
Terbutaline Pump, and when she was
about to leave she noticed the fluid
gushing down my legs and called a
Nurse on duty to check the fluid out,
the Nurse from Matria told the nurse
that there was no way in the world I
should be discharged with a ruptured
membrane. After checking out the
fluid the Nurse on duty told me that I
could no longer be discharged but
transferred to ante partum where I
would stay till delivery, shortly
before being transferred to ante
partum a Nenatologist by the name Dr.
Mike Sukumar came and spoke to me and
my husband that he has been asked to
consult with us about the care of our
twins since delivery was so close, he
spoke to us at length about the NICU
and about the care our twins would
receive, myself and my husband were so
excited that our twins would be well
taken care of and we were looking
forward to them being born. I was
later transferred to ante partum and
once again the contractions started
intensively, this time no magnesium
sulphate, antibiotics nor iv was
started on me, the nurse on duty at
ante partum started to monitor my
contractions and the heart beats of my
babies, she told me that my babies
were too active and that she was
having a hard time keeping them on the
monitor she also informed me that she
had tried paging Dr. Vinayakom 3 times
but no response, the nurse gave me a
sleeping pill to help me sleep, but I
was not able to sleep through the
night because of consistent
contractions.
Sunday Dec 15th, 2002.
This morning again contractions
continued and my babies were very
active moving and turning I complained
to the nurses on duty, I asked them
about the ruptured membrane and asked
why I did not have any IV on, they
informed me that the Doctors did not
give orders for an IV, when the nurses
tried to monitor the heart beat of my
babies they told me that the babies
were too active and it was hard for
them to be monitored so the nurses
informed me that they would have to
order for sonogram, a sonogram tech
named Jill came and did an ultrasound
on me and she informed the nurses and
me and my husband that Baby A has
absolutely no fluid and she was in
distress but Baby B had very little
fluid, she gave the heart beats to the
nurses for both babies, but
emphasizing on the lack of fluid.
About thirty minutes after the Tech
left DR. Pinckert shows up and said
that he had read the sonogram report
and that everything looks good, my
husband asked him about the importance
of fluid and his concerns that since
Saturday evening I had been with no IV
or antibiotics to prevent infection,
Dr. Pinckert tells us that the fluid
is not important since the babies
makes their own fluid that it would
reproduce, Dr. Pinckert advised me to
continue drinking water and Juice, I
told him about the attitude Dr
Vinayakom had portrayed in reference
to my care and money, Dr. Pinckert
assured me that all is well and that
Dr. Vinayakom probably had a bad day
that day and that he had spoken to Dr.
Vinayakom and she would definitely
continue my care. That evening at
about 9.00 p.m Dr. Vinayakom came in
and I pleaded with her to do the right
thing since I was already getting a
feeling that all is not well she
looked at the contraction machine and
told me that she might have to deliver
my babies tonight or tomorrow morning
being Monday the 16th, all through the
night the contractions continued and
got worse, I informed the nurse who
said she would inform my Doctor.
Monday Dec 16th, 2002.
This morning was so terrible I did not
get any sleep the previous night since
I had terrible contractions, I was
later transferred back to Labor and
delivery, Dr. Vinayakom came in at
about 8.30 a.m. and told me that she
would be back around mid-day to
deliver my babies, once again I was
excited and even joked with her about
my babies being my Christmas gift, but
I was surprised when the nurse started
me on Magnesium Sulfate, and I asked
her why since I would be delivering
she said it was an order from my
Doctor, so I thought it was routine,
Mid day came and passed then late
night and my Doctor never came to
deliver my babies, once again I was
disappointed and I kept wondering what
the delay was on delivering my babies
after all I had received some
injections of steroids for the babies
lungs and both Dr. Pinckert and Dr.
Vinayakom had told me and my husband
that our babies can be born now and
placed in the NICU. My husband
questioned the Night Nurse on why Dr.
Vinayakom never came to deliver but
the Nurse had no answer.
Tuesday Dec 17th, 2002.
Still Contracting and still on heavy
medications my contractions continued,
the nurse on duty who took care of me
from 7.a.m. to 7.p.m.had difficulties
monitoring my babies but after a while
she told me that she was confident she
heard both babies and when she told me
and my husband that both babies heart
beat were 146, we got concerned since
both of my babies had never had the
same heart beat, however some time
during the day Dr. Pinckert showed up
and told me that every thing looked
good and I asked him what the delay is
in delivering my babies and he said
that they were buying time, hours
later Dr. Vinayakom came in and I
asked her why she never came to
deliver yesterday she said that she
was buying time however she also
mentioned to me that my Lab results of
my White Blood Cells has given them a
signal and I asked her again why there
is a delay and she said that there
were no infections yet. At 8.00 p.m a
nurse named Cynthia came on duty and
at about 9.00 p.m. she gave me a
prescription called procardia which I
took while still on Mag Sulfate, at
about 9.20 p.m. she started to monitor
the heart beats of my babies and she
told me that she could not hear baby A
but she could hear baby B, since Dr.
Vinayakom was in my room she told her
and Dr Vinayakom told the nurse not to
worry about Baby A since Baby A has
always been hard to find, well the
nurse finally convinced Dr Vinayakom
to order for a sonogram at about 10.00
p.m. the Tech who saw me on Sunday
came and was surprised to see me still
pregnant she scanned for both babies
and told me she was sorry and I asked
her what for, she said that Baby A has
no heart beat and that Baby B had a
heart beat of 126, that was the
beginning of my nightmare I thought I
was dreaming, a few minutes later Dr.
Vinayakom came in and asked me what
the Tech said and I told her, Dr.
Vinayakom panicked and ordered the
nurse to prepare me for an emergency C-
Section. At about 11.30 p.m. I
arrived into the operating room I was
given a Spinal Block Anesthesia for
the C-Section and though sad that Baby
A had passed I was anxiously waiting
for the arrival of Baby B, Dr
Vinayakom, left the operating room and
came back with a male Doctor a few
minutes later, and in my mind I
started to worry about what was going
on and what the delay is in delivering
baby A and baby B, both Doctors
started to Scan for the babies using
an ultrasound machine then moments
later Dr. Vinayakom came to me and
asked me if I knew what was going on
and I said no, she said “ Baby B’s
heart beat is also gone too”, I could
not believe it , it seemed like a
horror movie, this minute I have a
baby and the next minute I don’t. She
informed me that Dr. Pinckert was on
his way to remove the cerclage
stitches and that I would have to be
induced to dilate so I would deliver
vaginally.
Wednesday Dec 18th 2002.
At about 1.00 a.m Dr. Pinckert arrived
and took out the stitches, I was later
moved back to labor and delivery to
dilate so I could deliver my dead
babies, while in the delivery room Dr.
Pinckert came in to offer his
condolence he said he did not know
what happened to my babies and that
his wife had lost two babies one at 19
weeks and the other at 23 weeks, he
went further to say and I quote “ In
my 28 years of practicing I have never
seen a thing like this, You are very
healthy and the children were very
healthy all your lab results were
normal, I will suggest an autopsy”.
I guess he did not know what else to
tell me after he and Dr. Vinayakom
deliberately and negligently killed my
babies.
I was given some medication for
dilation and at about 10.55 a.m I was
fully dilated, Dr. Vinayakom checked
my cervix and said I had dilated 10 cm
and we proceeded for the delivery,
while I was pushing, Dr. Vinayakom
left the room and a few minutes later
I gave birth to Baby A at 11.10 a.m
with the assistance of my husband and
the nurse and as soon as the baby came
out the Nurse paged Dr. Vinayakom who
walked in with a cup of coffee in her
hands, and five minutes later I gave
birth to Baby B. That day was the
worst day of my life to know that if
my Doctors had not acted negligently I
would have had my babies delivered
earlier and safely on Monday when they
were both alive. After the delivery I
was sent to Post Partum for recovery.
A few hours later my babies were
brought up to me and my husband, I had
two girls Chelsea (A) and Camille (B)
they did not look dead they both
looked like they were sleeping.
Nurses that had taken care of me in
the earlier days came in individually,
they were all distraught and could not
believe that the Doctors waited that
long to deliver the babies despite the
warning signs from the
Sonogram reports. The reports, which
should have been a signal to the
Doctors that the Babies were in
distress and the amniotic fluid was a
grade zero, the doctors ignored all
repeated reports of no fluid.
Thursday Dec 19th, 2002
Still in grief, I was in denial that
my babies who were once described as
very active were now silent. At about
12.30 p.m. Dr. Vinayakom came to
discharge me and after she gave me my
discharge orders I asked her in the
presence of my husband and the Nurse
(Rachael) on duty why she allowed my
children to die before she delivered
them and her response was “ Nnedi, I
don’t know what to say right now, I
was going to deliver your babies On
Monday, but Dr. Pinckert whose words
are the bible of this hospital told me
not to deliver the babies, now I wish
I listened to Myself”. And I asked
her again why she did not save even
one baby for me, and she
replied “Nnedi, I have been doing this
since 1973 and I have never seen a
thing like this, children don’t die
like that”. An hour after Dr.
Vinayakom left, a nurse named Becky
who works in labor and delivery who
had taken care of me on Monday the
16th came to pay her condolence and
told me that Dr. Vinayakom told her
that she regrets not delivering my
babies on Monday the 16th and that Dr.
Vinayakom is devastated for her
actions.
Friday, Dec 20th
The bodies of my precious little
babies Chelsea and Camille are now at
the AFIP (Armed Forces Institute of
Pathology) for an autopsy.
Friday, Jan 3rd
My husband and myself met with the
Pathologist for the autopsy results,
the results shows that my babies died
of an infection called
CHORIOAMINIOTIS, this is an
inflammation of the amniotic fluid
resulting from the rupture of
membrane. I cannot believe that my
babies died from a mere infection,
something that could have been
prevented if Dr. Vinayakom was closely
monitoring me and my babies, something
that could have been prevented if only
Dr. Vinayakom had me on antibiotics
for the two days I spent on ante
partum after my water had broken,
something that could have been
prevented if only my Dr. Vinayakom had
taken care of me rather than focus
more on money and abandoning me just
for the nurses to take care of me,
something that could have been
prevented if only Dr. Vinayakom used
her judgment and intuition to deliver
my babies when she had the time to do
so rather than debating with Dr.
Pinckert over the lives of two
innocent girls Chelsea and Camille.
Conclusion
I am not a greedy person, if only Dr.
Vinayakom and her co-baby killers had
at least saved the life of one baby I
would at least have something to
rejoice for today. I don’t know when
I will or if I will ever be able to
get over what happened to my family.
This has been a complete big loss to
my family. How could one go to a
hospital with two healthy babies and
then come home with none. How
depressing it could be that the same
Doctors who co-coordinated the death
of my two babies continue with their
normal lives and not even have an atom
of sympathy for their foolish
mistake.
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