Woman Dies After 'Inexperienced Doctor' Removes Placenta Roughly After Delivering Baby

A 22-year-old first-time mother died after suffering "excruciating pain" shortly after giving birth when an inexperienced obstetrician allegedly ripped out her placenta. The incident took place in Nizhneserginskaya, in Russia's Sverdlovsk region, and an investigation into possible medical negligence was launched Thursday.

Alisa Tepikina smiled at seeing her first child, a girl, being born but was left screaming in pain when the doctor "aggressively pulled on the umbilical cord. Local media reported that the placenta did not separate from her inverted uterus in the normal way and she went into coma. Later, the woman went into cardiac arrest and died.

"We have been told that the 'birth' of the placenta did not occur. The midwife called in a doctor. The obstetrician, aged 27 and recently qualified, began to pull the umbilical cord roughly," Tepikina's father Dmitry Malyukov, 47, said, according to the Daily Mail. "My daughter was suffering, she was screaming in pain. But the doctor paid no attention."

The family blamed the doctor for the incident and filed a case with local police.

“She tugged the umbilical cord with real force - the uterus was inverted,” Malyukov said. “Alisa screamed so loud that she could be heard throughout the hospital... This is like something from the Middle Ages. This caused a pain shock, severe bleeding, and she fell into a coma.”

The deceased's mother Svetlana Cheshko, 42, said the official cause of her death was registered as severe shock caused by pain.

Soon after the delivery, the woman's husband Nikolay Tepikin, 22, accompanied the baby to another hospital because the girl had a minor neck injury. When he returned several hours later he was told his wife was seriously ill.

Local media reported that the obstetrician in the case was suspended and the Russian Investigative Committee confirmed a criminal case was launched.

Elena Barannikova, head physician at Nizhneserginskaya hospital, claimed her doctors were not to blame and the "uterus spontaneously inverted." Barannikova said this was a rare case but "it happens."

A senior Russian obstetrician, however, claimed there was "aggressive removal of the placenta” in the case.