Bed-Stuy Community Held Rally For Deceased Woman Who Died In Childbirth

The family of Christine Fields, a woman who died after delivering her son, hosted a rally at the hospital to demand answers.

Brooklyn, New York’s Bed-Stuy neighborhood, is mourning one of its community members while calling for answers surrounding her death. Christine Fields died while giving birth on Nov. 13, and the mysterious nature of her death has shaken her neighborhood.

Fields underwent an emergency C-section at Woodhull Medical Center against her original plans to have a natural birth with the aid of a midwife. According to News12, the midwife was not on shift at the time Fields went into labor, prompting the medical staff involved to call for the last-minute procedure due to the baby’s dropping heart rate. Her fiancé, who was initially in the hospital room, was removed as she underwent surgery.

Although the family did see Fields and the newborn infant after what seemed to be a successful delivery, doctors later told her family that the mother of three had died. However, the family has yet to receive the medical records that would explain her untimely death, leaving them to believe that negligence on the hospital’s part played a role. The rally is meant to bring awareness to not only this unfortunate circumstance but also the plight of Black mothers and pregnant women and the mortality rate that disproportionately affects them.

The rally was held in the lobby of the medical center on behalf of Fields, with attendees yelling “Say Her Name,” the familiar battle cry for Black women killed due to police brutality. Black women have the highest maternal mortality rate within the U.S., with the CDC confirming that this demographic is nearly three times more likely than white women to die during childbirth, indicating that systemic issues play a prominent role in the statistic.

“I’m hurt, I’m devastated, I’m angry, and I’m frustrated,” shared Fields’ mother, Denene Witherspoon, who spoke to reporters on the scene. “I want to know what happened to my daughter.”

The baby is still being held at the hospital, as Fields’ family, alongside their Bed-Stuy community, still fight to bring the infant boy home and gain answers on what happened to his mother.